Barn Notes

Compiled by Robert Yates

It’s an opportunity for a polite bounce back.

Yes Ma’am, a half-sister to 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, is scheduled to make her career debut in Sunday’s seventh race at Oaklawn, a six-furlong maiden allowance event that is among the highlights of the track’s third annual program exclusively for 2-year-olds.

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First post is 12:30 p.m. CST, with probable post time for the seventh race 3:18 p.m. The 10-race card is anchored by the $175,000 Year’s End Stakes for fillies at one mile.

Yes Ma’am will be running approximately 72 hours after Mystik Dan finished last of six in his comeback start, the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (G1) for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs Thursday at Santa Anita.

Yes Ma’am and Mystik Dan are both out of Ma’am, who broke her maiden at the 2016 Oaklawn meeting for trainer Kenny McPeek. McPeek also conditions Mystik Dan, but Yes Ma’am is trained by John Ortiz.

“Physically, I think they look alike,” Ortiz said, referring to Yes Ma’am and Mystik Dan. “She has a very fiery, forward kind of mentality. So, she’s got like a winner’s attitude. Hopefully, that transitions to the afternoons. You never know until those gates open in the afternoon.”

Yes Ma’am has eight published workouts since Nov. 2, the last four at Oaklawn. She completed major preparations for her debut with a half-mile gate drill (:48) last Sunday morning. Ramon Vazquez is named to ride Yes Ma’am (12-1 on the morning line) from post 8.

“She’ll develop into a two-turn horse,” Ortiz said. “She’s shown some talent in the morning.”

Yes Ma’am is a homebred for Lance Gasaway of Star City, Ark., 4G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway of Little Rock, Ark.) and Hot Springs native Banks Hamby.

Gasaway, 4 G and Hamby also bred and race Mystik Dan. Hamby’s younger brother, Scott, who races under the Valley View Farm banner, purchased an interest in Mystik Dan following his victory in the $800,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) last February at Oaklawn.

Yes Ma’am is by multiple graded stakes winner Unified. After recommending Ma’am be bred to Goldencents (resulting in Mystik Dan), McPeek steered the ownership group toward Unified, Lance Gasaway said.

“He said from the sales he (worked), he thought he was producing the best-looking babies,” Gasaway said.

Sharilyn Gasaway named the filly. It was 4G’s turn, in the ownership rotation, to name a horse and a trainer to employ. Ortiz and 4G had a prior business relationship, campaigning, among others, Hollis, who set Oaklawn’s 5 ½-furlong track record (1:02.17) in a December 2021 allowance race.

“So, we sent her to John and John’s dad in Florida,” Sharilyn Gasaway said. “I had originally had a named saved, ‘Universe,’ because I was hoping it would be a colt. When it was a filly, I was like: ‘Crap, now what am I going to name it?’ I wanted something that had to do with Ma’am and just came up with Yes Ma’am. That’s all the significance I can tell you. Lance loved it, so it was OK.”

Lance Gasaway and Banks Hamby also raced Ma’am.

Purses for Sunday’s card total $1,027,000. There are five maiden special weight races, each worth $110,000, and a $130,000 allowance.

Other horses of note entered, include:

• Adeera, a three-quarter sister to Grade 1 winner Newgate and 2023 Year’s End runner-up Denim and Pearls, in the Year’s End for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
• Caribbean Dream, an unraced Tapit colt out of Golden Mischief, in the third race for two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Golden Mischief ran the fastest six furlongs by a female in Oaklawn history (1:08.77) in a 2018 allowance race.
• Castle Gap, an unraced Arkansas-bred son of Oaklawn stakes winners High North and Sekani, in the fifth race for Ortiz.
• Innovator, who returns to the maiden special weight ranks in the third race for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas after finishing second in the $150,000 Advent Stakes Dec. 6 at Oaklawn.

Year's End

For Immediate Release

HOT SPRINGS, AR - Trainer Tom Amoss has had the Midas touch with 2-year-olds this season at Oaklawn. Another six-figure opportunity awaits Sunday when he starts You’ll Be Back in the $175,000 Year’s End Stakes at 1 mile.

The Year’s End anchors a 10-race card exclusively for 2-year-olds, the third in Oaklawn history. Probable post time for the Year’s End, the ninth race, is 4:14 p.m. CST. Racing begins at 12:30 p.m.

Amoss, who is based at Fair Grounds, has a 20-horse division this season at Oaklawn under the care of assistant trainer Chris Richard. Amoss has already struck with three winners of $110,000 maiden special weight races for 2-year-olds – Authentic Gallop, Modo and I Got Game – through the first nine days of racing.

You’ll Be Back, a supplemental nominee, will be making her stakes and two-turn debut in the Year’s End, which drew a field of eight. She began her career with a fourth-place finish behind Eclatant June 21 at Churchill Downs and exits a six-furlong maiden victory Nov. 30 at Fair Grounds. You’ll Be Back has been favored in both career starts.

Eclatant returned to finish third behind Good Cheer and Quietside, two Kentucky Oaks prospects, in the $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs.

“I think it’s a really good transitional-type race,” Amoss said. “It’s a mile, so we use the short stretch and you’re going to go from one to two turns at the same time. So, when you finally make the transition from sprint to route, this is a great way to do it.”

One mile races at Oaklawn begin and end at the sixteenth pole in the stretch.

You’ll Be Back is scheduled to break from post 2 under two-time reigning Oaklawn riding champion Cristian Torres and carry 115 pounds.

Amoss trains You’ll Be Back (3-1 on the morning line) for Greg Tramontin, who purchased the daughter of Practical Joke for $575,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Amoss said Tramontin, who founded GoAuto, a Louisiana-based auto insurance company, has been a client for 25 years and was a “one or two-stable guy” before a philosophical 180 and deciding to sink big money into roster expansion (racing and broodmare prospects).

Tramontin recently purchased Siena Farm, an A-list breeding venue in Kentucky, and spent $5.7 million on 16 yearlings, including You’ll Be Back, at the 2023 Keeneland sale.

“He has made a major investment in the business,” said Amoss, who is one of the winningest trainers in North American history with more than 4,100 in his career. “It’s his passion. It’s allowed me to really kind of get into the top level of buying some of these yearlings. Those numbers, and what we spent, are not typical Tom Amoss Racing Stable. Some of the really good horses we’ve had, whether it be Serengeti Empress that cost $70,000, or any of the others for that matter, we’ve always been $200,000 or under in our yearling purchases. Playing in a different league now, which is fun, but there comes a lot of responsibility with that.”

Trainer Kenny McPeek won the first two runnings of the Year’s End with Defining Purpose in 2022 and Ice Cold in 2023. McPeek bids for a third with Itwillbefun, who will be making her two-turn debut after breaking her maiden Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.

Glee, the 5-2 program favorite, exits a 10 ¾-length victory in the $75,000 Toby Keith Stakes at one mile Dec. 13 at Remington Park for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Adeera, also trained by Asmussen, exits a fourth behind Good Cheer in the $200,000 Rags to Riches Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 27 at Churchill Downs.

Jenkin, Kinzie Queen, Mischievous Bria and Piggy Tales Up are also entered.

Jenkin gave breeder/owner John Ed Anthony (Shortleaf Stable) his record-extending 295^th career Oaklawn victory with a Dec. 6 maiden score at one mile for trainer Lindsay Schultz.

Jenkin is a stablemate of Quietside, who is scheduled to make her 3-year-old debut in the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 25. The Martha Washington is Oaklawn’s first of three Kentucky Oaks qualifying races.