OP Stakes Preview - $500,000 Essex Handicap – Saturday, March 21, 2026

Skippylongstocking is running in a 1 1/8-mile graded stakes race for older horses at Oaklawn for the third consecutive year. But for the first time, it’s as a Grade 1 winner.

After 11 previous career attempts in Grade 1 company, Skippylongstocking finally broke through in his last start when he beat stablemate and defending champion White Abarrio by 1 ¾ lengths in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park.

“You obviously have detractors,” south Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “That was always people’s knock, like, ‘He’s never won a Grade 1, he’s never won a Grade 1. He definitely deserved it. The Oaklawn Handicap, in 2024, was fast enough to win a lot of Grade 1s. He had run fast enough to win multiple Grade 1s, but he never did it on the day and he had beat multiple Grade 1 winners many times. To finally get that on his resume, it was gratifying for the owners and for our barn. We felt like we didn’t stop him from achieving something he was capable of achieving.”

After winning the $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) in 2024 and finishing third last year, Skippylongstocking has returned to Hot Springs for Saturday’s $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3). The Essex headlines an 11-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. CDT. Probable post time for the Essex, the ninth race, is 4:51 p.m.

The Essex, which drew eight entrants, is a major local prep for the $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 18.

Joseph, however, said he is using the Essex as Skippylongstocking’s bridge to the Alysheba Stakes (G2) for older horses at 1 1/16 miles May 1 at Churchill Downs. White Abarrio is scheduled to make his next start in the Oaklawn Handicap.

Skippylongstocking, the 4-5 program favorite, will be ridden for the first time by Micah Husbands, who is based at Gulfstream Park. Skippylongstocking will pack top weight of 124 pounds, spotting his scheduled rivals anywhere from 6 to 9 pounds. Joseph said Skippylongstocking had been under consideration for the $150,000 Ghostzapper Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles March 28 at Gulfstream Park.

“Obviously, it’s a bigger purse,” Joseph said of the Essex. “It’s a good spot. It’s a good distance. He’s won over the track already. The timing of it is good. It kind of gives us extra time to the Alysheba, or if we want to go somewhere else. I hate that he got out of a rhythm because he was in a rhythm for Santa Anita, but we had to call and audible and here we are.”

Skippylongstocking was rerouted to the Essex after he became “a little agitated,” Joseph said, and removed from a plane that was to carry the 7-year-old from south Florida to Southern California for the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) March 7 at Santa Anita.

Skippylongstocking worked three furlongs last Sunday at Palm Meadows Training Center in south Florida, then was vanned, without incident, to Oaklawn, Joseph said, arriving Tuesday.

“Everything went smooth,” Joseph said. “He’s always been a very good traveler, so I don’t know what set him off a little bit. It was a bit unusual and that made my decision easy, just to take him off the plane.”

Skippylongstocking’s accomplishments tower over his seven projected Essex rivals.

Skippylongstocking has 13 victories from 36 lifetime starts while racing at 15 tracks, spanning from Southern California to upstate New York. Skippylongstocking has bankrolled $5,461,250 for owner Daniel Alonso, a figure, through March 19, that ranked 75^th in North American history, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.

Alonso, a south Florida native, purchased Skippylongstocking for just $37,000 at the 2021 OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in training.

Skippylongstocking has 11 career stakes victories – all graded – including four seven-figure events. In addition to the Oaklawn Handicap and Pegasus World Cup Invitational, Skippylongstocking won the $1 million Charles Town Classic (G2) in 2023 and 2024.

Skippylongstocking was beaten 39 ¼ lengths in the 2025 Charles Town Classic (G2), an uncharacteristically poor performance that Joseph said was triggered by an electrolyte imbalance (thumps).

Freshened after that Aug. 22 race, Skippylongstocking has returned to win the Harlan’s Holiday Stakes (G3) Dec. 20 at Gulfstream Park and the Pegasus World Cup Invitational in his 2026 debut.

“Between the thumps that day and sending him hard from a pace scenario, we just said after that that we were going to ride him patient,” Joseph said. “We rode him more patient in the Harlan’s Holiday and it worked and then we rode him patient again in the Pegasus. The horse has tactical speed to put himself in a good spot, but his best performances have been when you ride him more patiently.”

Mackman, Duke of Duval, Gould’s Gold, Runaway Again, Accelerize, Doc Sullivan and San Siro are also entered.

Accelerize (9-2) exits a runner-up finish in the Mineshaft Stakes (G3) Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Accelerize, who adds blinkers, won the Louisiana Stakes (G3) Jan. 17 at Fair Grounds. Accelerize is cross-entered in the New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2) Saturday at Fair Grounds, but his presence in the Oaklawn barn area indicates he’ll go in the Essex.

Runaway Again (15-1) will be making his Oaklawn debut after winning the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, Sept. 9 at Fort Erie.