Kentucky Oaks notes: Updates on the field for Friday's race
As Friday's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks approaches, Churchill Downs provided the following updates on the field.
Everland. Everland, winner of the Bourbonette Oaks in her most recent start for trainer Eric Foster, walked the shedrow Tuesday.
“She’ll go out tomorrow, to keep her fresh,” said Foster, who claimed the daughter of Arrogate for $30,000 in a Dec. 30, 2023, race at Turfway Park. She drew the no. 9 post for the Oaks and was 30-1 on the morning line, with Abel Cedillo to ride.
Fiona's Magic. Fiona’s Magic galloped 1 3/8 miles under Alejandro Mariano for trainer Michael Yates at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
With rain chances in the long-range forecast at better than 50 percent for Friday, Yates was asked how an off track would affect his filly, who finished second in her debut on a track listed as good.
“I hate to run on an off track with any of my horses,” Yates said. “Today she looked good out there (over a track rated as good).”
Gin Gin, Tarifa. Gin Gin and Tarifa galloped about 1 1/2 miles Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. for trainer Brad Cox.
“Just going through the normal motions right now,” Cox said. “All good.”
Into Champagne. Into Champagne went to the track Tuesday at the 7:30 a.m. training time for trainer Ian Wilkes.
“She galloped about a mile-and-three-eighths today with her exercise rider, Adelso Orantes,” Wilkes said. “It’s probably one of the strongest Oaks’ fields that I’ve seen in a long time. Top to bottom, it’s very strong.”
The filly drew the no. 10 post with jockey Julien Leparoux and is 30-1 on the morning line.
Just F Y I. Champion filly Just F Y I used Tuesday’s training session to show how little her last workout took out of her. The daughter of Justify visited the paddock and proceeded to skip over the track as she galloped twice around during the 7:30 a.m. training session, two days after working a half mile in 49.4 seconds.
“She’s got some stride on her,” trainer Bill Mott said of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner.
The Oaks will mark only the second start for Just F Y I this season as she had her seasonal bow delayed by illness. She most recently finished second to fellow Oaks contender Leslie’s Rose in the Ashland Stakes (G1) on April 5.
Lemon Muffin. As has been customary for the D. Wayne Lukas trainee, Oaks contender Lemon Muffin was among the early risers at Churchill Downs on Tuesday. The Honeybee Stakes (G3) winner headed out along with her stablemate Derby entrant Just Steel for a routine gallop over the drying out surface.
Among those at the track on Tuesday was Lemon Muffin’s jockey Keith Asmussen. The son of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen arrived on the scene as he is set to be aboard both the daughter of Collected and Just Steel for Lukas when the two try to put their names in the history books Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be here given the gravity of the week,” Keith Asmussen said. “Now I get to be here as a race rider and experience this week in a different dimension. For many years we’ve been here and …I’m certainly used to being around racing of this caliber. But as a rider it’s definitely a different experience. I’m not too nervous or anxious. Just couldn’t be more excited for the experience.”
When Lemon Muffin prevailed by 3 1/2 lengths over Tapit Jenallie in the Honeybee on Feb. 24, it was the first career graded-stakes victory for the younger Asmussen.
“I really loved the filly heading into that race. I was excited to stretch her out,” Asmussen said. “She ran in there as a maiden, but I always thought the world of her. When she ran the way she did, it was definitely exciting but we weren’t surprised.”
Leslie's Rose, Candied. The two Grade 1 stakes winners out of the Todd Pletcher barn, Leslie’s Rose and Candied, each galloped a mile and a quarter during the 7:30-7:45 training session. Both had their regular exercise riders up, Joel Osorio aboard Leslie’s Rose and Carlos Quevedo on Candied.
The two were scheduled to school in the paddock with the horses for Tuesday afternoon’s sixth race.
Leslie’s Rose has been assured a spot in the Kentucky Oaks Friday. She’ll come out of the 14 hole in the 14-horse field with regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard. Candied is on the also-eligible list and will need two withdrawals if she’s to make the field in the nine-furlong classic.
Power Squeeze. Power Squeeze went out Tuesday onto a Churchill Downs track listed as good after overnight rains for trainer Jorge Delgado, with her regular exercise rider, Edwin Castro.
“She went a mile-and-a-half, galloping,” Delgado said. “It’s her routine, we’ll follow it the next two days. She’s eating well, resting well, resting good, so no complaints.”
Delgado, is regularly stabled in New Jersey, Delaware Park and Gulfstream Park, and “this is my first time at Churchill, my first time at the Oaks and the Derby,” he said. “It’s all new to me. We’re looking forward to enjoying every day to the fullest, and that our horses will perform the way they’ve been training.”
The upset winner of the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) is looking to extend her win streak to five in the Kentucky Oaks. The filly, a 12-1 morning-line pick, breaks from the No. 12 post with Daniel Centeno.
“She’s training really good,” Delgado said. “We’re getting really excited, because she’s doing everything better than expected. She looks like a winner. … It’s difficult to control my excitement about her.”
With a balanced field of 14 entered in the Oaks, Power Squeeze hasn’t received as much attention as some of her competition.
“I really don’t mind,” Delgado said. “It’s really better to let her do the talking.”
Delgado said it’s hard to believe that his horses are in Louisville going up against those of trainers he remembers from his childhood.
“Some of the trainers that are competing in this race, I saw them as a child,” he said. “Trainers like Lukas, Pletcher, Mott and a few others. To be here with a horse running against them, it means a lot. But it’ll mean a lot more if I beat them.”
Regulatory Risk, Ways and Means. Just as trainer Chad Brown has two strong contenders for the Kentucky Derby in Sierra Leone and Domestic Product, the four-time Eclipse Award winning trainer also has been confident in the two fillies he is set to saddle in the Kentucky Oaks.
Regulatory Risk and Ways and Means added to the good feelings their conditioner has for them as they each galloped twice around during the 7:30 a.m. training period on Tuesday.
“It was another good day of training,” Brown said.
Both fillies were set to paddock school Tuesday as they ready for their respective runs in the signature race for 3-year-old fillies. Regulatory Risk is coming into the race off a runner-up finish in the Gazelle Stakes (G2) while Ways and Means returned from a seven-month layoff to place second in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).
Tapit Jenallie. Tapit Jenallie walked the shedrow Tuesday for trainer Eddie Milligan Jr. in preparation for Friday’s Oaks.
“She’s doing good,” said Milligan, who is training an Oaks entry for the first time.
Tapit Jenallie, who will start in the Oaks from the no. 1 post at 30-1 morning-line odds, worked a half-mile last Thursday with jockey Manny Esquivel in 49.4 seconds.
Thorpedo Anna. Thorpedo Anna went out Tuesday morning with her Oaks jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., for trainer Kenny McPeek.
“She did the same thing as Mystik Dan, galloping a mile-and-a-half and then stood in the gate,” McPeek said.
Thorpedo Anna, winner of three of her four career starts including the Fantasy Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn, drew the no. 5 post for the Oaks and is 5-1 on the morning line. Last Friday, Hernandez guided her to a five-furlong work in 59.4 seconds.
Where's My Ring. Trainer Val Brinkerhoff stuck to pattern with his Kentucky Oaks filly Where’s My Ring and had exercise rider David Rodriguez take his bay daughter of Twirling Candy trackside at 7:30 a.m. to stretch her legs for a mile and a half gallop. The Gazelle (G3) winner accomplished her assignment in good order.
“She had issues with ulcers when she was a 2-year-old,” Brinkerhoff said. “We gave her a bit of time off and got that sorted out, and she’s been good since. She’s come good at the right time.”
Where’s My Ring will break from post 3 in the nine-furlong Oaks and have the saddle services of New York veteran Jose Lezcano, who was aboard for her handy tally in the Gazelle.
Our Pretty Woman, also eligible. Our Pretty Woman galloped 1 1/2 miles at 5:30 a.m. for trainer Steve Asmussen. The filly needs one defection to make the body of the Oaks.