All together, The Withers, the Southwest Stakes, the Robert B. Lewis and the Sam F. Davis are each Kentucky Derby prep races. All four of these preps are scheduled to race on Friday or Saturday, the 6th and 7th of February, 2026. The Grade 3 Southwest is on at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, AR. That is the same race track that Sleepingonfreedom earned points on the KY Derby leaderboard, on the first Saturday of this month. He finished fourth place in the Smarty Jones. Sleepingonfreedom earned two points, placing him 45th on the leaderboard. He will have to rise to the top 20 to race in the KY Derby. His sire is Independence Hall and his dam is Siesta. Sleepingonfreedom is owned by Dream Big Racing, LLC and Magdalena Racing. KY Derby winning Kenny McPeek trains him. The Southwest is race 11 on a card of 12 at Oaklawn. Post time is 5:40 PM ET for this $1 million dollar stakes race. The dirt track is 1 and 1/16 miles. Sleepingonfreedom is the final entry, number 14. Here all all the contenders by post/name/jockey/trainer/morning-line odds/and KY Derby prep points as applicable:
- Reclamation/Ramon Vazquez/Christopher Davis/30-1
- D’Code/Luis Saez/H. Ray Ashford/3-1
- Buetane/Joel Rosario/Bob Baffert/4-1
- Rancho Santa Fe/Flavien Prat/Brad Cox/15-1/1 point
Litmus Test/Juan Hernandez/Bob Baffert/19 points– scratched- Circle Tap/Ricardo Santana, Jr./Dallas Stewart/30-1
- Liberty National/Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr./Kenny McPeek/10-1/5 points
- Spirit Of Royal/Francisco Arrieta/Dallas Stewart/30-1
- Strategic Risk/Javier Castellano/Mark E. Casse/9-2/10 points
Bricklin/Jaime Torres/Rudolphe Brisset– scratched- Silent Tatic/Cristian Torres/Mark Casse/20-1/5 points
- Baytown Dreamer/Oraldo Bocachica/Paul McEntee/30-1/3 points
- Soldier N Diplomat/Jose Ortiz/Steve Asmussen/12-1/3 points
- Sleepiningonfreedom/Emmanuel Esquivel/Kenny McPeek/30-1/2 points
Furthermore, the Withers post at 4:20 PM ET on Friday and then on Saturday, the Sam F. Davis Stakes is at 5:30 PM ET and the Robert B. Lewis races at 7:05 PM ET. Please, enjoy all fine KY Derby prep races. I’ll be cheering hardest for Sleepingonfreedom this time, when once again racing is on at Oaklawn. Thank you for checking out Thoroughbred U and please read again soon.
