Smarty Jones Stakes Kicks off Oaklawn’s Road to the Derby

Smarty Jones made a lasting impression at Oaklawn Park in 2004, sweeping the Southwest Stakes, Rebel Stakes, and Arkansas Derby before his oh-so-close sweep of Triple Crown – winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but coming up short in the Belmont Stakes.

Brad Cox seeks fourth Smarty win with Hot Property

In 2008, the folks at Oaklawn created the Smarty Jones Stakes to honor ‘Smarty,’ and the race became the first of four preps on the Arkansas road to the Kentucky Derby.

It is not a race to discard as an early indicator of Derby prospects. Over the past few years, Smarty Jones runners have not only made the Kentucky Derby, but fared quite well.

In 2024, Mystik Dan ran fifth and went on to win the Derby, with Smarty Jones winner Catching Freedom finishing fourth. In 2023, Angel of Empire ran second in the early prep and finished third in the Kentucky Derby.

Hot Property tops Smarty Jones field

Now comes Saturday’s edition, with a purse of $250,000. Hot Property the 8-5 favorite over 2-1 Kale’s Angel in a field of eight newly turned 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles.

Hot Property is trained by Brad Cox, who also trained Catching Freedom and Angel of Empire. Flavien Prat has the call from post 6. Cox has won the Smarty Jones three of the past four years.

Hot Property wired the field in his debut, winning by 3 ¾ lengths at 1 1/16 miles at the Fair Grounds on Nov. 24.

Seasoned Kale’s Angel won at Oaklawn last out

Kale’s Angel comes into the race with a win in the Advent Stakes at Oaklawn on Dec. 6 and has a record of 5-2-0-0 for trainer Peter Miller. Ramon Vazquez has the call from post 1 aboard a son of Complexity who stalked the lead and pulled off to a 5 ¾-length victory in the 5 ½-furlong Advent. Miller also sends out 12-1 Curvino.

Springboard Mile (G3) winner Coal Battle, 3-for-3 on dirt, is the 9-2 third choice for trainer Lonnie Briley.

The Smarty Jones awards Derby qualifying points of 10-5-3-2-1 to the first finishers.

Post time for the Smarty Jones is 4:55 p.m. ET.

For those who bet horse racing ...

The picks: 1 Hot Property 2 Coal Battle 3 Kale’s Angel

The field for the $250,000 Smarty Jones, from the rail out, with jockey, trainer, odds:

1 Kale’s Angel (Ramon Vazquez, Peter Miller), 2-1

2 Hot Gunner (Harry Hernandez, Scott Young), 20-1

3 Optical (Axel Concepcion, Keith Desormeaux), 12-1

4 Bon Temps (Martin Garcia, D. Wayne Lukas), 30-1

5 Mo Quality (Junior Alvarado, Chris Davis), 5-1

6 Hot Property (Flavien Prat, Brad Cox), 8-5

7 Curvino (Francisco Arrieta, Peter Miller), 12-1

8 Coal Battle (Juan Vargas, Lonnie Briley), 9-2

US Racing Team

The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.