7-for-7: Good Cheer rallies to win Kentucky Oaks 2025
Louisville, Ky.
You could have Bet Your Life on Good Cheer, and if the secret word were perfect you'd win an extra $100.
In Friday's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Good Cheer extended her undefeated streak to seven with an emphatic 2 1/4-length victory over Drexel Road in 1:50.15 for 1 1/8 miles on a track rated as wet-fast. Paying $4.78 to her backers, Good Cheer was the shortest-priced Oaks winner since Untapable paid $4 in 2015.
"We knew there was a lot of speed in here, so we just wanted to stay out of trouble through the first half of the race," trainer Brad Cox said. "(Jockey) Luis (Saez) did a great job saving ground into the first turn and staying out of trouble. He's the perfect rider for a perfect filly."
Good Cheer came into the Oaks on a six-race win streak after beginning her racing career at Horseshoe Indianapolis, winning four straight at Churchill Downs, including a pair of stakes, and then both Oaks preps at Fair Grounds. She now has won seven races by a combined 44 1/2 lengths.
"This is a very special filly, the kind I ride with such confidence," said Saez, who has been aboard for the last six of her starts. "I made my move with her at the top of the stretch, and it was a big move, but it doesn't matter when you make your move with this horse. She's going to carry you.
"She is one of the best fillies I've ever been on," concluded Saez, who won the 2022 Kentucky Oaks with Secret Oath.
As that word perfect kept percolating around team Good Cheer, neither Cox nor Godolphin racing manager Michael Banahan shied away from an ambitious schedule for the Medaglia d'Oro filly, but they did stop short of saying facing males would be on the short-term agenda.
"We know she is very good, the kind of filly who could hold her own against colts, and the way she ran today (in the Oaks), I guess we have to at least consider it. But there are plenty of races for us to stay in our lane for now," Banahan said. "We'd much rather win prestigious races than lose to colts."
Ashland Stakes (G1) winner La Cara set the pace through opening fractions of 22.58 seconds, 46.78 and 1:11.36 before giving way to Santa Anita Oaks (G2) winner Tenma through a mile in 1:36.97. Good Cheer was eighth early and moved wide into contention when fifth on the far turn. She surged to the front mid-stretch and comfortably held Drexel Road at bay. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Bless the Broken, with Tenma staying on for fourth.
Cox's roster of races included the Acorn (G1), Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), Alabama (G1) and Cotillion Stakes (G1) before a year-end goal of the Breeders' Cup.
"This is a top five race for me," Louisville native Cox said. "The (Kentucky) Derby is no. 1, but then you have the other Triple Crown races, Breeders' Cup Classic and the Oaks.
"People were knocking her a little bit because of her speed figures, that they were good but just not separated from the rest. Well, she separated herself today. She puts her competition away and passes the eyeball test."
The first of the races Cox mentioned is the Acorn on June 6, Belmont Stakes day, at Saratoga. Because the Belmont is at Saratoga this year, the Acorn is at the Oaks distance of 1 1/8 miles instead of its traditional one-turn 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park. Cox said after Good Cheer's Fair Grounds Oaks win that pressure was mounting because of her undefeated record but that was a good kind of pressure.
Good Pressure earned $855,600 for her connections, pushing her lifetime earnings to $1.7 million.