Apple Blossom Handicap 2020: Post positions, odds and picks
Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap attracted a full field of older fillies and mares set to traverse 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park.
A handful of prior Grade 1 winners comprise the top-tier of contenders with each of Ollie's Candy, Come Dancing, Street Band, Serengeti Empress and Ce Ce entered.
Post time is 6:16 p.m. ET, when morning line favorite Come Dancing exits a layoff in the care of new trainer -- during her time in Arkansas -- D. Wayne Lukas. Having won back-to-back stakes last year, she will be making her two-turn debut in a tough spot.
Serengeti Empress won the local prep for this race last out, the Azeri (G2), in front-running fashion with Street Band fourth. The speedster retains the services of jockey Joe Talamo, who guided her to a 6 1/4 length victory last month.
Ce Ce ships east off a breakthrough win in Santa Anita Park's Beholder Mile (G1), a race in which Ollie's Candy was third to end a layoff.
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Recent notable winners of the Apple Blossom include Midnight Bisou (2019), Untapable (2015), Havre de Grace (2011) and Zenyatta (2008 and 2010).
Trainers with contenders in the this edition who have won this race previously include: John Sadler (Stellar Wind, 2017), Dallas Stewart (Forever Unbridled, 2016), D. Wayne Lukas (three times), Larry Jones (Havre de Grace, 2011), Tom Amoss (Heritage of Gold, 2000) and Steve Asmussen (twice).
Here's a closer look at the group of 14 with morning line odds:
TimeFormUS' Pace Projector expects -- no surprise here -- Serengeti Empress to seek the lead in the Apple Blossom. She should be followed closely by the trio of Ollie's Candy, Awe Emma and Cookie Dough in a race designated as a "fast" early pace. Coldwater and Point of Honor figure to sit far back in the early stages.
NBC Sports will do its part to keep racing in the spotlight this weekend, with NBCSN scheduled to simulcast TVG's "Trackside Live" from 4-8 p.m.
Fox Sports 1 will air "America's Day at the Races," a program produced by the New York Racing Association, on Saturday from 1:30 to 7 p.m.
TVG account holders can also live stream races and network coverage for free.
Apple Blossom picks
In forming your opinion, check out free past performances. Here's how a trio of Horse Racing Nation contributors see the race unfolding...
Nick Costa
Winner: #6 Street Band
On the board: #5 Point of Honor, #11 Serengeti Empress
Longshot I like: #6 Street Band
Analysis: Street Band is a Grade 1 winner whose two losses this year are excusable. Two back in the Houston Ladies Classic (G3), she encountered a tough trip and last time out in a better-than-it-looked effort over a sloppy Oaklawn surface, she tired late from chasing Serengeti Empress who was loose on the lead. Look for her to sit back and make a closing run. Point of Honor kept good company last year, winning the Black-Eyed Susan (G2), and was runner-up twice in Grade 1 races at Saratoga. Her prep last out at seven furlongs featured a small field that was void of pace. She gets back to a more suitable distance here and gets plenty of pace to chase. Serengeti Empress, the 2019 Kentucky Oaks winner, knows one way – speed. Not only is she fast, but is also classy. However, if she gets pushed enough by the likes of Cookie Dough, the race could open up for some of the others to have a fair shot.
Ryan Dickey
Winner: #13 Lady Apple
On the board: #12 Go Google Yourself, #6 Street Band
Longshot I like: #9 Horologist
Analysis: Lady Apple has the right name for the race, has won three of her four career starts at Oaklawn Park and has won five of the six times at this distance. Go Google Yourself is 2-for-2 at Oaklawn and should be the top competition for Lady Apple. Street Band and Sophie Doyle are a formidable tandem and should not be dismissed in this spot. Horologist can build off her last effort and compete here at a price. Key Lady Apple over Go Google Yourself, Street Band and Horologist in exactas and trifectas.
Jarrod Horak
Winner: #6 Street Band
On the board: #5 Point of Honor, #14 Ce Ce
Longshot I like: #1 Ollie's Candy
Analysis: Street Band had a wide trip from the outside post in the Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 26 and probably did not care for the slop in the Azeri last time. She fits with these on her best day and is fairly reliable at this distance when the track is fast. Point of Honor got no pace help in a clear runner-up finish in her needed extended sprint return. She was a solid late runner versus this kind in multiple graded routes last year. Ce Ce can contend here if she can work out some kind of trip from the outside post. The lightly raced filly was excellent in both starts at Santa Anita this year. Ollie’s Candy is not the worst stab from the rail. Both of her scores at this distance were in graded races. Serengeti Empress got loose in the slop in the Azeri on March 14, and it was game over early that day. She usually gets out there and tries hard, but dropped five straight prior to her last.
My wagers: #6 to win; exacta 6/5-14; exacta 5-14/6; trifecta 5-6/1-5-6-11-14/1-5-6-11-14; trifecta 1-11-14/1-11-14/5-6.
Saturday's 11-race Oaklawn Park card features two graded stakes races, the Grade 3 $350,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (Race 8) before the Apple Blossom (Race 10).
Wtih all post times Eastern, click for a closer look at entries.
Race 1: Maiden Claiming (1:35 p.m)
Race 2: Claiming (2:06 p.m)
Race 3: Maiden Special Weight (2:37 p.m)
Race 4: Claiming (3:08 p.m.)
Race 5: Maiden Claiming (3:39 p.m.)
Via Oaklawn Park's publicity staff...
Serengeti Empress had to beat 13 rivals to win the country’s biggest race for 3-year-old fillies last year. She will have to beat the same number to win one of the country’s biggest two-turn races for older fillies and mares Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Joel Politi’s Serengeti Empress is among 14 horses entered in the star-studded Apple Blossom Handicap.
Trained by Tom Amoss, Serengeti Empress was a wire-to-wire winner of the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks – the country’s biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies – last May at Churchill Downs. She launched her 4-year-old campaign with a scintillating 6 ¼-length wire-to-wire victory in the Azeri on March 14, the final major local steppingstone to the Apple Blossom. In the 1 1/16-mile Azeri, Serengeti Empress controlled the race from the start under Joe Talamo. But she only faced six challengers that day. Saturday’s race features four other Grade 1 winners, and Serengeti Empress drew a far outside post, not an ideal spot, Amoss said, for her free-running style.
“Look, I’m just going to be frank about it,” Amoss said. “It reads like a Breeders’ Cup in April. Everybody’s come. We have a lot of obstacles. It starts with the post position. I don’t like being that far outside. But then, it’s going to be the rush to get position going into the first turn. Position for us is going to the front. We’re not looking to lay second or third from that outside post. Our winning races are when she makes the lead, so we’re going. I guess the question is: How much energy are we going to have to use to get to the front? On paper, it looks like quite a bit.”
Serengeti Empress is the 4-1 second choice in the program for Amoss, who won the Apple Blossom and Azeri (then known as the Oaklawn Breeders’ Cup Stakes) in 2000 with Heritage of Gold. Saturday’s assignment, Amoss said, is tough because there are other speed horses in the race, including 3-1 program favorite Come Dancing.
“There are two or three horses that are coming off races at shorter distances, where they have been close to attending the pace in what is a sprint format,” Amoss said. “So, in route formats, they’re natural speed. The pace is going to be fast. If you’re a handicapper for this race, you’re like, ‘There’s a lot of speed in here, I’m looking for a closer.’ ”
Come Dancing will be making her first start and two-turn debut for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas after previously being based with New York-based trainer Carlos Martin.
Come Dancing, a five-time stakes winner, hasn’t started since finishing sixth in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint – her only career race outside New York – Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. The 6-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon had been poised for an Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter after winning the $500,00 Ballerina Stakes (G1) Aug. 24 at Saratoga and the $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2) Sept. 22 at Belmont Park. Overall, Come Dancing has won 8 of 14 career starts and earned $1,064,950.
Lukas said the Apple Blossom was on Come Dancing’s “radar,” but COVID-19 complicated matters for Martin, grandson of the late Hall of Fame trainer, Frank “Pancho” Martin, and breeder/owner Marc Holliday (Blue Devil Racing Stable).
Come Dancing was sent to Lukas about a month ago and has recorded three local breezes leading up to the Apple Blossom.
“It’s not too much of a short time,” Lukas said. “We’ve had her a month. We’ve been able to do pretty much everything we wanted to do. In watching her train and everything, I think the two turns is well within her wheelhouse.”
Ce Ce is 2 for 2 this year, including a sparkling 3 ¼-length score in the $400,000 Beholder Mile (G1) March 14 at Santa Anita under her regular rider, Hall of Famer Victor Espinoza. The 4-year-old daughter of Elusive Quality is bred and owned by Bo Hirsch, who won the 2009 Arkansas Derby with her half-brother, Papa Clem. Ce Ce is scheduled to break from post 14 Saturday.
“Obviously, Serengeti Empress, on her day, when she gets the lead, is very good,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “I’ll leave that up to Victor, exactly what’s going to happen once the gates open, but my preference would be to sit a nice stalking trip, obviously.”
Also entered are Grade 1 winners Ollie’s Candy and Street Band and Grade 2 winner Point of Honor, among the nation’s top 3-year-old fillies last year.
“She’s training very well,” said George Weaver, who trains Point of Honor. “It’s a tough race, but I don’t think she’s going to disappoint us.”
Go Google Yourself won the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) on Feb. 17 in another major local Apple Blossom prep.