*Bred in the Sunshine State, my sire was a classic winner and my broodmare sire was a Horse of the Year. *My bargain basement yearling purchase price of just over $7,000 seemed justified until I turned it around early in my sophomore season.

It should be a great day today at Oaklawn Park, with beautiful weather, a buzz of excitement in the air, and split divisions of the one-mile, Grade 3 Southwest Stakes to double our fun. After a few more days at the Hot Springs oval, I’ve become greatly impressed once again with the way the community rallies around the racing scene here. The day’s racing truly becomes an event at Oaklawn, and people here are just having a great time. One way to make the time even greater is to pick some winners and go home with more money in the wallet then when you began the day. I will be trying to do just that, and to that end, I offer up my full Southwest Stakes analysis.

On paper, yesterday’s $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park looked like a two-horse race. Absinthe Minded and Tiz Miz Sue who had run one-two in the recent Pippin Stakes, were sent off as the 3-2, and 7-5 clear choices in the five-horse field. Looking at the past performances of the two it was clear that they were the class of the race and both were coming off a sharp effort, making them very deserving of being basically co-favorites. The next question would be how to separate the two. One obvious difference was Absinthe Minded had more speed than her main foe, which generally is an advantage in a short field. More important than that though was a quick scan of the two mare’s lifetime record over the Oaklawn Park strip.

Breaking news from Hot Springs, Arkansas … In honor of my first visit to Oaklawn Park in several years, (don’t ask me why I’ve taken this long to get back, because this place is one of my favorite places) the management has succeeded in attracting an overflow field of Kentucky Derby hopefuls for Monday’s Southwest Stakes, prompting them to split it into two divisions. The splitting of graded stakes is a practice seldom seem today in the reality of fewer starts and more rest between races, so needless to say the announcement blew me away. Imagine how much effort the folks at Oaklawn put in, and all the horsemen involved to get this to happen just to make my visit all that more enjoyable.

Think back if you will to the morning of April the 9th, 2011. Everybody was talking about one horse. His name was Uncle Mo. Unbeaten and already a champion, so called pundits that will remain nameless (me) were still talking about him in glowing terms. “The best juvenile I’ve seen in a long time,” seems to ring a bell. Flash forward to later that afternoon for the stretch run of the Wood Memorial to see Uncle Mo tiring on the rail with Arthur’s Tale poised to pull off a major upset. Who won? Neither. Bursting through like a shot to take the glory was a good looking Florida-bred son of Bellamy Road named Toby’s Corner. The winner instantly became many people’s choice to be draped in roses four weeks later. As it turns out his trainer, Graham Motion did win the Kentucky Derby, but with Animal Kingdom, while an injured Toby’s Corner stayed back in Maryland. We have not seen him race since, but now the long awaited return of Toby’s Corner is almost upon us.

Looking for an amazing way to spend the Thursday evening before the Kentucky Derby? I have the perfect answer ... Ferdinand's Ball. Last year, I was able to attend my very first Ferdinand's Ball, and it was easily one of the highlights of an already fantastic weekend. I was greeted with great food and drinks, and even better company. (That's me with 2012 Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl, and last year's host, Kate Upton ... sorry, I could not resist) Most importantly, Ferdinand's Ball is held every year for one of the very best reasons I can possibly think of.

*Bred in the Sunshine State, I was undefeated in my first 11 ½ months of racing. *I won more than half of my lifetime starts, including ten stakes, over a career that spanned four seasons.

Zipse ranks them one through sixteen every other Tuesday...

Lucky Chappy is on the move … again. A quick peek at the stickers on his suitcase already reveal stays in Ireland, Italy, France, Maryland, Kentucky, and Florida, but it looks like the fun has only just begun for the globetrotting son of High Chaparral. If all goes as planned, you can add the mileage to San Francisco and Dubai soon to his ever growing total of frequent flyer miles, and all this for a colt who will not celebrate his actual third birthday for a few more months.

Leparoux benefits from the decision that left a vacancy on Union Rags for the Fountain of Youth...