She continues to deliver every time you ask her. “She’ll give you the speed when you need it and she’ll sit off it. In her stakes and 3-year-old debut, Will’s Secret ($18) recorded the most lopsided Martha Washington victory since Rachel Alexandra began her Horse of the Year campaign with an eight-length romp in 2009. Trained by Dallas Stewart, Will’s Secret broke her maiden in a 1 1/16-mile off-the-turf maiden specials weights race Dec. Will’s Secret, a homebred for Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark., represented Court’s final victory in 2020 and first this year. Krajcir again represents Harr at Oaklawn, along with De La Cruz’s brother, Fernando. “When he told me that he was talking about Jon, I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ He’s a household name around here.” “I thought he was talking about her,” said Esch, the longtime agent of Walter De La Cruz. Esch said when Court’s former agent Steve Krajcir called last fall to inquire if she would be interested in taking another rider for the 2021 meet, she initially believed it was Kelsi Harr, Oaklawn’s leading apprentice last year. The Martha Washington was Court’s first victory with Becky Esch, the jockey’s new agent. Court also was sidelined several months after the Oaklawn meet with a wrist injury. Court was Oaklawn’s leading rider in 2000 and has been a fixture in the standings for much of the past two decades, although he was winless in 2020 after missing most of the meet because of a collapsed lung and cracked ribs sustained in an accident going to the gate before a race in February. Taking care of my health, I was able to do that.”Ī year after launching his riding career, Court won 10 races as an apprentice at the 1981 Oaklawn meeting and recorded his first career stakes victory in Hot Springs aboard Earl’s Good Time in the $50,000 American Beauty Handicap Feb.

“I’m just very, very fortunate and thankful to the higher powers. “At 60, it’s amazing,” Court said moments after winning at Oaklawn in a fifth decade. The Martha Washington was Court’s 689 th career Oaklawn victory, 34 th career Oaklawn stakes victory and first stakes victory as a sexagenarian.

Now 60, Court turned back the clock – again – Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn when he guided Will’s Secret to a 5 ¼-length victory in the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile.

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