Sailor's Valentine will be aimed at Kentucky Oaks

Trainer Eddie Kenneally said Sunday morning that Central Bank Ashland (G1) winner Sailor’s Valentine, who won the $500,000 race by a half-length at odds of 22-1 will be aimed at the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs on May 5. With the 100 points she earned for winning Saturday’s race, Sailor’s Valentine has a guaranteed spot in the race.

“We will look at the Kentucky Oaks, but we are going to leave her at Keeneland for a while,” Kenneally said. “Not really sure how long she will stay here. We might leave before the end of the meet so we can breeze her at Churchill. That is the plan if everything continues to go well.”

A graduate of Keeneland’s 2015 September Yearling Sale, Sailor’s Valentine is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Mizzen Mast. She has earned $359,214 with a record of 6-2-2-0 for Semaphore Racing and Homewrecker Racing.

“The Ashland set up perfectly and she got a great ride from Corey Lanerie,” Kenneally said. “She breezed really well before the race so we had to take a shot. Everything came together perfectly.”

Normandy Farm’s late-charging Daddys Lil Darling was second.

“She came back well. She ate up last night, and she was bouncing around this morning,” said Alan Shell, assistant to trainer Kenny McPeek, about Daddys Lil Darling, a Grade 2 winner last year. Shell expected McPeek to make a decision in the coming days about whether Daddys Lil Darling’s immediate future would include a start in the Oaks.

Trainer Will VanMeter reported that Tommy Ligon’s Someday Soon, who finished third at odds of 21-1, exited the Central Bank Ashland in great condition but likely would bypass the Oaks. With 20 points, she is 15th on the list of leading point earners for the Oaks, which is limited to 14 starters.

VanMeter has year-round stalls in Keeneland’s Rice Road barn area with amenities that include small turnout pens where Someday Soon spent part of Sunday morning.

“She was bucking and squealing when we turned her out,” he said. “But we probably won’t run in the Oaks unless there are some major defections. We’ll keep our options open.”

The Mark Casse-trained duo of Summer Luck and Pretty City Dancer, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively, vanned to Churchill Downs Saturday night to rejoin the Casse string in Louisville.

“That was not one of their better performances,” Casse said. “I’ll probably send one, Pretty City Dancer, to the ($200,000) Eight Belles (G2, at 7 furlongs on May 5), and Summer Luck, I’d like to try her in the (Kentucky) Oaks because she had no pace to run into yesterday. But, I don’t think she’ll have enough points to get in.”