Kentucky Oaks: Check out draw, posts, morning-line odds
The post-position draw for the $1.25 million, 2022 Kentucky Oaks was completed Monday with 14 fillies drawn into the main body of the race along with one on the also-eligible list.
The 1 1/8-mile Oaks, which will be run Friday, is America’s most prestigious race for 3-year-old fillies. This year the top four in the morning line all are from the barns of Hall of Fame trainers who have won the Oaks in the past.
Steve Asmussen, who has more career victories than any other trainer in the history of Thoroughbred racing in North America, won the Kentucky Oaks twice, most recently in 2014 with Untapable, who has common ownership with the 4-1 morning line third choice Echo Zulu. Echo Zulu, who drew post position 7, is unbeaten in five career starts, including three Grade 1 victories in 2021 that led to an Eclipse Award as the champion 2-year-old filly. The daughter of Gun Runner won her 2022 debut in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) by a nose at the end of March. Echo Zulu is the leading money winner in the field with earnings of $1,720,000.
After the draw Asmussen said, "She trains like a horse that expects to win and that’s a wonderful thing. She got tired in her first race off the bench but the fast fillies are inside of her and we are pleased to draw on the outside of them.”
Shug McGaughey seeks his second victory in the Oaks with the undefeated Kathleen O., who drew post 10 and was assigned odds of 7-2. The daughter of Upstart began her career in November at Aqueduct and then won three stakes at Gulfstream Park by clear margins, including the Davona Dale (G2) and Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). It has been 29 years since McGaughey won the Kentucky Oaks in 1993.
Todd Pletcher will seek his second Oaks victory in a row and his fifth overall. Pletcher won the Oaks last year with the favorite Malathaat. This year, the newest trainer to join the Hall of Fame has two fillies in the field, led by 5-2 morning line favorite Nest. The daughter of Curlin is the 4-for-5 with victories in her last three starts in stakes at different tracks. In December, Nest took the Demoiselle (G2) by a neck and then had a pair of open-length victories in the Suncoast at Tampa and then the Ashland (G1) at Keeneland by more than eight lengths. Nest will break from post 4 with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.
Octogenarian trainer D. Wayne Lukas seeks his fifth win in the Oaks with Secret Oath, who is the fourth choice at 6-1. Lukas last won the Oaks in 1990, and he won the 1988 Kentucky Derby with the filly Winning Colors. Secret Oath burst on the scene at Oaklawn Park when she won three races by a combined margin of 23 lengths in an allowance, the Martha Washington, and the Honeybee (G3). Lukas then sent her to face male 3-year-olds in the Arkansas Derby (G1) where she finished third after a poor start and a badly timed ride. Secret Oath and new jockey Luis Saez will break out of post position 1.
The Kentucky Oaks is carded as race 11 out of 13 with post time scheduled for 5:51 p.m. EDT.