The Derby trail does not usually get active on Mondays — but with the national holiday, Oaklawn will not only run this Monday, but will host a pair of graded stakes.

Sophomores will clash in the Southwest Stakes (G3), in which Smarty Jones Stakes winner Uncontested will face twelve foes.  The race is the second of Oaklawn’s four points preps.  Older horses will also have their moment in the sun — or, under the rain clouds, as suggested by the forecast — in the Razorback Handicap (G3).  The field of eight features Gun Runner, who will make his four-year-old bow after the Fair Grounds quarantine sidelined his Pegasus plans.

Head over to Picks and Ponderings, read my preview of Monday’s stakes action at Oaklawn, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!