Southwest Stakes Handicapping Picks
Horse racing gamblers are you looking for 2025 Southwest Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping Odds…plus some predictions? Need some advice on who to take? The 2025 (G3) Southwest is set for January 25 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, AR. Here’s a preview of our top contenders.
Southwest Stakes Preview
- Race: Southwest Stakes
- Purse: $1 million
- Distance: 1 1/16 miles
- Track: Oaklawn Park
- Date: January 25, 2025
- Post Time: 5:10 PM (ET)
- Live: Southwest Stakes Odds: Click Here
Before we can give you our expert 2025 Southwest Stakes free pick, we have to break down the entries! In fact, we’d love to hear from you after you’ve given this post a read to see if you see an angle that we don’t!
2025 Southwest Stakes Handicapping
We continue down the road to the 2025 (G1) Kentucky Derby with a stop this weekend in Hot Springs. Arkansas for the (G3) Southwest Stakes hosted by Oaklawn Park. The Southwest offers Derby qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.
Run at 1 1/16 miles on the Oaklawn dirt, the Southwest also offers a big purse of $1 million, so it’s no surprise it has drawn a field of 10 contenders. There are two solid morning line favourites in the field, including a previous Grade 1 winner, but both come into this with questions marks.
Odds listed here are provided by the Oaklawn Park oddsmaker.
2025 Southwest Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Gaming Race Odds: 2-1
Gaming burst on the scene last summer with back-to-back wins to start his career, including a win in the (G1) Del Mar Futurity. Next out he ran very well to finish second in the (G1) Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
He was a well-beaten third last time however in the (G2) Los Alamitos Futurity, and looks to rebound from that effort here. This will also be his first start outside of southern California, and it’s worthnoting that both of his defeats have come at this 1 1/16 miles distance.
2025 Southwest Stakes Free Pick & Handicapping: Patch Adams Race Odds: 5-2
After a so-so effort first time out in the maiden special weight ranks at Keeneland where he gave up the lead and finished second, Patch Adams came back to score his first career win by an eye-catching 10 lengths at Churchill Downs.
Now he needs to both stretch out in distance and face other winners for the first time. He hasn’t raced since late November, but has put in a good series of works leading up to this, with three consecutive five-furlong bullet works.
Sandman Race Odds: 5-1
A last out winner going one mile at Oaklawn, Sandman has been tested in a pair of graded stakes races already. While his best result in those was a third two races back in the (G3) Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs, he also had some trip trouble in both of those races.
He’s one that does his best running late, so if the pace gets hot up front he could be well positioned to get up for a piece of it.
Speed King Race Odds: 15-1
Speaking of pace, in two career races so far Speed King has taken the field wire-to-wire once already and last out also set the pace before being caught at the wire and finishing second by a half-length.
With a tough outside post draw, it’s pretty much guaranteed jockey Rafael Bejarano will be trying for the lead right out of the gate here as well. If he is able to clear the field and get to the rail he could be tough to catch.
Here’s My 2025 Lecomte Stakes Free Pick.
There’s always some question as to whether young horses will progress or regress from age two to three and for the top two contenders here that question looms large.
In the case of Gaming, he seemed to have no excuse in defeat last out in late December, and you have to wonder if his rivals are starting to catch up in terms of their development. Speed-wise on paper he’s still a step ahead, and that could be enough to carry him to the finish line first.
Patch Adams is even more of a question mark, since he hasn’t raced in almost three months, and he’s yet to race at this extended distance.
That being said, I think his recent workouts have been significant and his pedigree suggests he’ll be better going longer. I’m willing to take a shot that he’s the one in the race with the most upside, and I’ll take him for the win.
Full Field: 2025 Southwest Stakes Odds
By post position
- #1 – Gaming 2-1
- #2 – Publisher 12-1
- #3 – Monet’s Magic 15-1
- #4 – Tiztastic 10-1
- #5 – Render Judgement 15-1
- #6 – Sandman 5-1
- #7 – Patch Adams 5-2
- #8 – American Promise 6-1
- #9 – Bon Temps 30-1
- #10 – Speed King 15-1
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