Kentucky Oaks 2025: Notes from Tuesday morning training

Here are updates on the contenders for Friday's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

Anna's Promise. Anna’s Promise galloped at 7:15 for trainer Carlos David.

Ballerina d'Oro. Ballerina d’Oro galloped at 7:15 under Kriss Bon for trainer Chad Brown.

Bless the Broken Bless the Broken galloped a mile and half under Genis Bracho at 7:15 for trainer Will Walden and was scheduled for a paddock schooling session Tuesday afternoon with horses in the second race.

Son of classic-winning trainer Elliott Walden, Will Walden has been training for four years after starting with a small string at Keeneland. In that string was a filly Walden thought might get him to the Oaks.

“I thought I might have been here two years ago with T Max,” Walden said. “She ran second to Tom Amoss’ good filly (Hoosier Philly) in the Rags to Riches here in the fall of 2022.”

Elliott Walden came close in the Derby twice with runner-up finishes by Victory Gallop in 1998 and Menifee in 1999.

“He told me to be decisive and makes sound decisions,” Will Walden said of training advice from his father.

Drexel Hill, Simply Joking. Trainer Whit Beckman’s Kentucky Oaks duo both galloped early under Maurilio Garcia.

First out at 5:30 a.m. EDT was Simply Joking, with Drexel Hill following soon after.

Both fillies then schooled in the paddock after training.

Five G. Five G galloped a mile and a half under Raul Alejandro for trainer George Weaver during the 7:15-7:30 training period for Kentucky Derby and Oaks contenders.

Winner of the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in her most recent start, Five G will be ridden by Manny Franco.

In 2015, Weaver and Franco made their Kentucky Derby debuts with Tencendur when Franco was 20 and in his third year of riding.

“He’s a very capable rider, and I was using him before he really got popular and his career has just kept going up,” Weaver said. “He ended up on her at Gulfstream Park and got a chance to know her. She ran her best numbers.”

Fondly. Fondly visited the starting gate in the mile chute and then galloped a mile and a half under William Humphrey for trainer Graham Motion.

Good Cheer. Good Cheer, the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Kentucky Oaks 151, galloped in blinkers at 7:15 under Katie Tolbert for trainer Brad Cox.

La Cara. La Cara jogged a mile early Tuesday morning under Kevin Donnis for trainer Mark Casse.

“She is high energy and we want to tamp that down a bit, so we will probably keep doing that (going out early during the week),” Casse said.

Farmer also bred La Cara, and he and Casse teamed up with another homebred to win the 2019 Belmont Stakes with Sir Winston.

“He is pumped up (about La Cara),” Casse said. “More pumped than he was before the Belmont.”

La Cara was scheduled to school in the paddock with horses in Tuesday afternoon’s third race.

Quickick. Quickick galloped a mile and a half at 7:15 under Rafael Rustrian for trainer Tom Amoss and was scheduled to school in the paddock Tuesday afternoon with horses in the seventh race.

Fourth in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) in her most recent start, Quickick will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli for the first time in Friday’s Oaks.

“She is really going to have to improve, but there are a couple of things that are giving me confidence,” said Amoss, who saddled Serengeti Empress to victory in the 2019 Oaks.

“She has really blossomed up here. At the Fair Grounds, she was quiet and stayed in the back of her stall. But up here her coat and weight have improved.

“I like what I have seen from her,” Amoss added of the filly who has had four five-furlong works over the track here since the Fair Grounds Oaks. “She can’t give them a head start. We have been working on that to fall into a better position and not be in a different ZIP code.”

Quietside. Quietside galloped at 7:15 under Daniel Ortiz for trainer John Ortiz.

The Fantasy (G2) and Honeybee (G3) winner was accompanied to the track by the John Ortiz-trained Barber Road, who finished sixth in the 2022 Kentucky Derby.

Tenma. The Kentucky Oaks filly Tenma got to work early Tuesday morning, heading trackside for a gallop just when Churchill opened for horse business at 5:15. Exercise rider Eric Garcia was at the controls and they took a full tour and a little bit more around the big oval.

The Bob Baffert-trained filly will be partnered by her regular rider, Juan Hernandez, come Friday and the 151st edition of the Kentucky Oaks. They’ll break from post 9 in the 14-horse lineup as they begin their nine-furlong test in front of a crowd that is expected to surpass 100,000.