Ivan Fallunovalot, the 2015 Texas Horse of the Year and 2016 Texas Champion Older Horse, worked an easy half-mile Sunday morning at Oaklawn in preparation for his scheduled 7-year-old debut in Saturday’s $125,000 King Cotton Stakes for older sprinters.
Ivan Fallunovalot, who won the King Cotton in 2015 and 2016, breezed in :49.40 over a fast track under Hall of Famer Calvin Borel. Clockers caught him in :12.20 for his first eighth, :25 for a quarter-mile and galloping out 5 furlongs in 1:02.80.
“Everything went real well,” trainer Tom Howard of Hot Springs said.
On behalf of owner Lewis Mathews of Bismarck Ark., Howard claimed Ivan Fallunovalot for $25,000 at the 2014 Oaklawn meeting. He has amassed $800,808 in career earnings, winning 15 of 24 starts.
Ivan Fallunovalot, a gelded son of Valid Expectations bred by Eileen Hartis, has won four consecutive races, the last coming in the $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Nov. 19 at Laurel.
The King Cotton closed Friday with 33 nominations.
Other prominent nominees include millionaire Alsvid, runner-up in the King Cotton the last four years, and Whitmore, a powerful Jan. 15 allowance/optional claiming winner.
From Oaklawn news release