HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Chris Hartman will send out millionaires Tejano Twist and Necker Island against the talented 3-year-old Ryvit in the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up shares a card with the $150,000 Mistletoe for fillies and mares at a mile. The races will wrap up an abbreviated first weekend of the meet as there is no card Sunday. The Ring the Bell field of nine also includes stakes winners Ultimate, Manuelito, Top Gunner, Caddo River, and Sir Wellington. “It’s a good race, that’s for sure,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains four-time stakes winner Ryvit. Ryvit and Tejano Twist have won the last two runnings of the Steel Valley Sprint at Mahoning Valley and could start as the top two choices Saturday. Ryvit closed for a 2 1/4-length win in the latest edition Nov. 20. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. “It was a really good race by him,” Asmussen said. “He’s had an extremely productive 2023, and we’re trying to add to it opening weekend. “He’s a nice horse. I don’t think he’s made $600,000 by accident. He’s capable of fast races. Now, we’re going up against older horses. It’s new ground.” Ryvit brings a 3-for-4 record at Oaklawn to the battle. He won three straight races at the meet last season, all at six furlongs, including the Bachelor Stakes. Keith Asmussen was aboard for the wins, as well as the Steel Valley, and has the mount Saturday from post 7. Tejano Twist, who won the Steel Valley in 2022, starts from post 6. He looks like the probable favorite off his win in the Bet On Sunshine on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. The Beyer Speed Figure of 101 that he earned for his last-to-first victory is the best last-race number in the Ring the Bell. Chris Landeros was aboard and again has the mount Saturday. Ryvit and Tejano Twist are among a surprisingly large number of entrants in the field who have had recent success racing from off the pace in what might play to the advantage of speed horses Top Gunner and Sir Wellington. The Ring the Bell is named for a program by which owners, trainers, and jockeys can ring a bell in the winner’s circle after a race at Oaklawn to indicate a donation from the purse money just earned will be made to the Arkansas Thoroughbred Retirement and Rehabilitation Foundation in Hot Springs. Last meet, bell ringers raised a collective $48,000 for the care of horses at the farm, said Jeanette Milligan, executive director of both the foundation and the Arkansas HBPA. “Tampa Bay has adopted our program,” Milligan said. “We’re very excited. We donated their bell. We paid for it, so we’re going to get 5 percent what they get at the end of the meet.” Milligan said the Arkansas facility had 27 horses to care for at the end of the Oaklawn meet last May, but now has just seven as 20 were adopted. Saturday’s card is Ring the Bell Day, and the first race will honor one of the program’s tireless supporters, Jan Pettinger. Coastal Charm tries Mistletoe Oaklawn’s road to the $1.25 million Apple Blossom in April starts with the Mistletoe, which drew defending winner Lovely Ride, Grade 3 winner Butterbean, and up and coming runner Coastal Charm. Coastal Charm won her stakes debut in the Dig A Diamond last April at Oaklawn and went on to capture the Iowa Distaff in July at Prairie Meadows. She is making her first start since August, when the front-runner was fifth in the Groupie Doll at Ellis Park. “She’s better at two turns,” said trainer Steve Hobby. “There just wasn’t anything to run her in. There were no races. I didn’t like the setup at Ellis. We were on the inside. There was speed on the outside and the favorites were closers. It turned out exactly like we thought. There was nothing on the horizon, so we went ahead and ran her.” Following the start, the decision was made to await Oaklawn, where she is 3 for 5. Martin Garcia has the mount from post 6 in the field of 11. “He’s got a lot of confidence in her,” Hobby said. “He likes her and we like having him on her. “We drew a decent post. The 6 is fine. And we already know she likes Oaklawn.” Coastal Charm drew outside one of her primary pace rivals, Lovely Ride. “She likes to be in the race,” Hobby said of Coastal Charm. Misty Veil has been facing graded stakes rivals in her last two starts, finishing third to Search Results in the Grade 3 Locust Grove in September at Churchill and fourth to Xigera in the Grade 3 Falls City at the same track in November. Isaac Castillo has the mount for trainer Mike Maker. Racing resumes Friday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.