Kentucky Oaks trail: Explora leads 6 in Fantasy at Oaklawn

A field of six was entered Friday for the Grade 2, $1 million Fantasy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies next Friday at Oaklawn.

The 1 1/16-mile Fantasy is Oaklawn’s third and final Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying race, with 100-50-25-15-10 points goint to its top five finishers.

Click here for Oaklawn entries and results.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will try to remain unbeaten in Kentucky Oaks preps at Oaklawn with Explora, who exits a three-quarter length victory over Counting Stars in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) on March 1. The 1 1/16-mile Honeybee was Oaklawn’s second Kentucky Oaks qualifying race.

Explora, a finalist for an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion 2-year-old filly, marked the first Honeybee starter for Baffert, who won the Fantasy in 1999 with Excellent Meeting and again in 2012 with Mamma Kimbo.

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse has three Fantasy entrants: Counting Stars, Search Party and Empath, a supplemental nominee. Search Party won the $300,000 Martha Washington in her stakes debut Feb. 6. The 1 1/16-mile race that was Oaklawn’s first Kentucky Oaks qualifying event. She ran fourth in the Honeybee.

Empath, who has never raced around two turns, broke her maiden March 14 at Oaklawn in her last start.

Grade 3 winner Taken by the Wind finished eighth in the Honeybee, her first loss in four lifetime starts. Taken by the Wind is trained by Kenny McPeek, who won the 2024 Fantasy with eventual horse of the year Thorpedo Anna.

Sticker Shock, 2-for-3 overall, will be making her stakes debut for trainer Brad Cox, who swept Oaklawn’s Kentucky Derby qualifying series in 2023 with Wet Paint.

The Fantasy highlights a 12-race card that begins at 1:30 p.m. EDT. Probable post time for the Fantasy, the 11th race, is 6:54 p.m. The Fantasy is the country’s richest Kentucky Oaks qualifying race this year. It has a seven-figure purse for the first time in its 53-year history.