Kentucky Oaks 2024: News & notes from Saturday training

Regulatory Risk worked a half-mile and Lemon Muffin five furlongs Saturday in training toward Friday’s Grade 1, $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

Fourteen 3-year-old fillies were entered for the race. Post positions will be drawn starting at 7:15 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

Everland

Foster Family Racing, William Wargel, R.K. Eckrich Racing and Maxis Stable’s Everland, winner of the listed Bourbonette Oaks in her most recent start for trainer Eric Foster, arrived at her barn at Churchill Downs at around 10:30 a.m. EDT on Saturday from Keeneland.

Fiona’s Magic

Stonehedge’s Fiona’s Magic, winner of the Davona Dale (G2), arrived at Churchill Downs at 3:50 Saturday morning after vanning from trainer Bo Yates’s base at Gulfstream Park.

Fiona’s Magic did not go to the track Saturday morning.

Gin Gin, Tarifa

Trainer Brad Cox’s duo of Gin Gin and Tarifa both walked barn 22 on Saturday morning following their five-furlong moves in 59.6 and 59.2 seconds, respectively, Friday morning.

Both fillies are scheduled to go back to the track Sunday at 7:30 a.m. EDT.

Into Champagne

Following a Friday work, Six Column Stables, Randy Bloch, Jim Gladden, Mike Davis and Michael Steele’s Into Champagne was back out shortly after the track opened Saturday morning for trainer Ian Wilkes. Exercise rider Adelso Orantes was aboard.

“She was out for a jog, just a mile,” Wilkes said. “She came out of her work fine. She’ll gallop tomorrow, then walk Monday.”

On Friday the Gulfstream Parks Oaks (G3) third-place finisher completed a five-furlong breeze Friday morning in 1:00.0 with jockey Julien Leparoux.

Just F Y I

The 2023 champion juvenile filly Just F Y I had another routine day on Saturday. George Krikorian’s homebred galloped about 1 1/2 miles after going through the Churchill Downs paddock with trainer Bill Mott saying he plans to give the daughter of Justify one more move on Sunday in advance of the Kentucky Oaks.

Lemon Muffin

Among the reasons Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is emboldened about Lemon Muffin’s chances in the Oaks is the clear preference she has for the Churchill Downs surface.

On Saturday the Honeybee Stakes (G3) winner flaunted how much she enjoys her time beneath the Twin Spires when she blazed five furlongs in 58.2 seconds in her final major work in advance of the nation’s top race for 3-year-old fillies. Breaking off solo during the 7:30-7:45 a.m. EDT training period, Lemon Muffin posted splits of 11.2, 22.0, and 33.8 seconds with a gallop-out clocked at 1:14.0.

While the main track has been playing fast, Lukas wanted to get a stronger move into his Oaks contender to make sure her fitness is on point coming off a lackluster seventh-place finish in the Fantasy Stakes (G2) on March 30.

“She worked really strong. I wanted a strong work out of her, because her performance the last time, I didn’t think she got a lot out of it,” Lukas said. “She went in 58-and-1, and that’s probably going to be a bullet work this morning. The track is playing very well.”

Owned by Aaron Sones and Julie Gilbert, Lemon Muffin came out of the Fantasy with what Lukas believes might have been a minor illness that impacted her run that day.

“She was flat last time, a little under the weather,” Lukas said. “But she really has responded well. And I think she has a real affinity for this surface. She loves it out here. (That time Saturday) was by herself, no prompt, no workmate. She loves it here.”

Leslie’s Rose

Trainer Todd Pletcher sent his Kentucky Oaks hope to the racetrack Saturday during the special 7:30-7:45 a.m. EDT training period. Exercise rider Joel Osorio handled Leslie’s Rose.

Leslie’s Rose covered approximately 1 1/4 miles in a good gallop.

Power Squeeze

Lea Farms’ Kentucky-bred Power Squeeze galloped Saturday morning in her first appearance on the track since arriving late Thursday night from Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Jorge Delgado is arriving in Louisville, Ky., on Sunday.

Regulatory Risk, Ways and Means

While her male counterparts were stealing focus during the 7:30-7:45 a.m. EDT training session on Saturday, Klaravich Stables’ Regulatory Risk put in a strong effort of her own when she breezed four furlongs in 49.6 seconds in preparation for her expected start in the Kentucky Oaks.

In a solo move, jockey José Ortiz guided Regulatory Risk through splits of 12.6 and 25.0 seconds before galloping out in 1:01.6 and 1:14.0.

”She did a little lighter piece of work,” trainer Chad Brown said of the Gazelle Stakes (G3) runner-up. “She’s been in steady work up in New York and up there in the winter really developing, and she’s come pretty far forward. She’s not one of the main contenders in here, but we decided to come down, because she has come forward so much, she could get a piece of this race, which would make her pretty valuable. So we’re going to give her a shot in there.”

As Regulatory Risk was finishing her last major move, stablemate Ways and Means, also owned by Klaravich, had a walk day after blazing through a four-furlong move in 46.2 seconds Friday.

“She came out of it well,” Brown said of Ways and Means. “Luckily, the track cooled off. It was such a fast work, but I will say once I got to seeing the work over a few times and some of the other fast works (Friday), it seemed the track was very, very fast. I don’t think it’s going to hurt her. She’s an extremely rare talent herself.”

Tapit Jenallie

Willis Horton Racing’s Tapit Jenallie walked the shed row Saturday for trainer Eddie Milligan Jr. in preparation for the Oaks. She worked a half-mile Thursday with jockey Manny Ésquivel in 49.4 seconds. She’s expected to be out on the track Sunday.

Thorpedo Anna

Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing’s Thorpedo Anna walked the shed row Saturday, a day after she completed her final major workout for the Oaks for trainer Kenny McPeek.

“She’s doing fine,” McPeek said. “High energy, that’s her. Both Mystik Dan and she schooled twice in the paddock this week. She got a little nervous at Oaklawn with its tight stalls. It was all new scenery to her, because she had been at Fair Grounds all winter. She had been at Oaklawn only for about 72 hours. But here this is home track for both horses.”

On Friday jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. guided her to a five-furlong work in 59.4 seconds. She has won three of her four starts with Hernandez, most recently the Fantasy (G2) at Oaklawn in her first start this year.

Where’s My Ring

Trainer Val Brinkerhoff reported that all was quiet and well at barn 30 with his 3-year-old filly Where’s My Ring, who is owned by Michael McMillan and has a date in the Oaks. The daughter of Twirling Candy only had a walk day Saturday following her handy 46.6-second drill Friday morning during the special Oaks-Derby training period.

The veteran horseman did have to deal with a touch of anxiety throughout the morning, however, concerning his scheduled rider for the 1 1/8-mile test. Veteran New York jockey José Lezcano had the call for the Oaks following his winning ride in the Gazelle (G3) at Aqueduct in her most recent effort April 6. But Lezcano was involved in a spill in New York on Friday, and Brinkerhoff was needing to hear positive news on the medical front from the rider’s agent.

After having to consider two other riding possibilities over the course of the morning, Brinkerhoff finally got good news from the Lezcano team that the jockey had been cleared to ride and was planning on being in Kentucky for his Friday engagement.