The great Arkansas gold rush of 2020 got off to a fitting start Friday at Oaklawn, when Gold Street won the $150,000 Smarty Jones. The chase for more record purses resumes Saturday with a trio of stakes races. (Click here trainer talk on those races.)

It is sunny and expected to reach a high of 55 degrees, and for morning works the track was listed by clockers as good. First post is not until 1 p.m. Central. A large ontrack crowd is expected, and they will be treated to the traditional fifty-cent corned beef sandwiches on Oaklawn's first Saturday. (For entries, anaylsis, selections and changes as available, click here.) Below is a look at some of the races on the card: 

Trainer John Sadler, who has a string at Oaklawn, had a winner here Friday and has three chief contenders on the the card Saturday. He looks competitive with Aggressivity in Race 2, with Leroy in Race 3, and with Lady Suebee in Race 7. 

In the fourth race, the Karl Broberg-trained Nola Win is interesting off a fourth-place finish to Grade One last out at Churchill. The start was this one's first against winners and he hooked a winner who ended up coming back to take an N1X at DeD with a Beyer Figure of 80 and who was entered in a stakes for Sunday at Sam Houston. 

The first division of the Fifth Season is led by Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile alum Snapper Sinclair, who is a true miler and who also is a winner on the main track at Oaklawn. Another chief contender is Remembering Rita, a Grade 3 winner who has a strong series of Beyer Figures. Sonneteer, a past winner of the Fifth Season, was a supplement for what wiill be his first out since June. 

Twilight Fantasy, off a race against the promising Digital, might offera bit of value in the sixth, a maiden special weight sprint in which favoritism could side with Kowalski or Approved. Kowalski is making his first start since August, when fourth to Three Technique - eventual runner-up in the Smarty Jones - in a maiden race at Saratoga. 

The second division of the Fifth Season drew four graded stakes winners, including Mocito Rojo and Bravazo, who both exit the Grade 1 Clark. 

The three stakes are all being run at a mile and as such, they will end at the sixteenth pole. 

The card closes with an appearance by stakes winner Emboldened, who has moved into the Midwest market after being based in Southern California. She exits a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff and earlier in her career was third in the Grade 1 La Brea.  

For a recap of the Smarty Jones and some of the winners Friday at Oaklawn, click here

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