Churchill Downs: Bob Baffert-trained Explora leads Dogwood

Grade 1 winner Explora will face five fellow 3-year-old fillies that entered next Saturday’s 51st running of the Grade 3, $300,000 Dogwood Stakes, one of three stakes on the Downs After Dark program at Churchill Downs.

Run at seven furlongs, the Dogwood Stakes shares the Saturday spotlight with the $300,000 Harrods Creek and $200,000 Seneca Overnight Stakes. First post is 6 p.m. EDT with the Dogwood field going to post at 9:39 p.m. EDT as race 8.

Explora, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, scored an impressive five-length victory in last month’s Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. As a 2-year-old, Explora won the Oak Leaf (G2) before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

She began her 3-year-old campaign by winning the seven-furlong Santa Ynez (Listed), then stretched out around two turns and won the Honeybee (G3) prior to a fourth-place finish in the LonG1nes Kentucky Oaks (G1). In June, Baffert returned Explora to one turn where she won the Leslie’s Lady, a prep for the Aug. 8 Test. Jockey Juan Hernandez will have the riding assignment in Saturday’s race and will break from the rail.

Other accomplished fillies entered in the Dogwood include Double 22 Stables’ Grade 2 winner A Fine Chardonnay along with Juddmonte’s Audubon Oaks winner Conceit.