Zipse: This filly could test 6-for-6 Good Cheer in Kentucky Oaks

Good Cheer will be the favorite for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. That much is certain after she ran her record to 6-for-6 with an easy win in Saturday’s Fair Grounds Oaks (G2). She hasn’t been challenged yet, but if I’m right about the ongoing development of Quietside, that challenge will come on the first Friday in May.

While it’s true that Quietside has had her chances in the past, sometimes it just takes time for a Thoroughbred to put it all together.

A good-looking debut winner at Saratoga for trainer John Ortiz, she followed it up with a second in the Spinaway Stakes (G1), a third in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1), a second in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) and finally a second in the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes to begin her 3-year-old season.

Good Cheer wins again, is 6-for-6 going to Kentucky Oaks.

She wasn’t running poorly, and the four defeats certainly came against strong competition, but the losing streak was still disappointing for those of us that thought so highly of her early on at Saratoga.

Hope that the striking daughter of Malibu Moon can be a really good one was renewed in her most recent start, however.

Quietside scored a breakthrough victory in the $500,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) on Feb. 23 at Oaklawn. It was a performance that could prove to be a turning point in her career. The impressive victory set her up nicely for a run in the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) on Saturday.

An important qualifying points race for the Kentucky Oaks, last year’s edition of the Fantasy was won impressively by Thorpedo Anna on her way to a horse-of-the-year campaign which included wins in both the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Kentucky Oaks.

This year’s Fantasy should draw a strong field that also is expected to include stakes winners Maysam, Simply Joking, Take Charge Milady and Runnin N Gunnin. It will be a test for Quietside to be sure, but after the way she won over a strong field in the Honeybee, I like her chances.

Ridden for the first time by José Ortiz, she was pushed early to get decent position into the first turn from her outside post position and still finished strongly down the Oaklawn stretch to win for John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable. The Arkansas lumberman is the winningest owner in Oaklawn history.

Quietside is a homebred for Anthony and from the final crop of successful stallion Malibu Moon, who died in 2021. The son of the great A.P. Indy sired more than 50 graded-stakes winners including the 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb.

On the female side, Quietside also has class. Her dam Benner Island was purchased at auction by Shortleaf and is a daughter of Speightstown out of an Awesome Again mare. She won the Eight Belles (G2) on Kentucky Derby day in 2017 and finished third behind the champion Abel Tasman in the Acorn (G1).

Bred to be a good one and with the looks to match, Quietside tipped off her readiness for Saturday’s Fantasy with a strong workout one week ago.

Further proof that she is getting good at the right time, she turned in a bullet five furlongs last Sunday morning at Oaklawn which included a strong gallop-out of six furlongs in 1:12.0 and seven furlongs in 1:26.8.

Having knocked on the door in three straight races against either sidelined champion Immersive or Kentucky Oaks favorite Good Cheer last year at 2, Quietside may have the talent to move forward in 2025 and win one against the best of the division.

Win, lose or draw in the Fantasy, she already has enough points to qualify for the Oaks, but you want to see another strong effort like the one in the Honeybee to send her to Churchill Downs in top form.

Battle-tested and still improving, Quietside may be the filly to end the winning streak of Good Cheer in this year’s Kentucky Oaks.