Acorn odds and analysis: Who can challenge Good Cheer?

The Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes will be run Friday at Saratoga at 1 1/8 miles. The field of seven 3-year-old fillies will feature the undefeated Good Cheer, who was made the 1-2 morning-line favorite.

The Acorn field includes three fillies who are Grade 1 winners, one Grade 2 winner, one with a stakes victory, an allowance winner and one filly with only a maiden score. Four of the horses last ran in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and finished first, third, seventh and ninth. Six of the fillies made their most recent start on the Kentucky Oaks card.

Here is a full-field analysis and the official track morning-line odds for the Acorn, which is scheduled as race 11 of 14 with post time set for 5:46 p.m. EDT.

1. Scottish Lassie, 12-1. McKinzie – Jorge Abreu / Irad Ortiz Jr. – 4: 1-0-2 - $342,560. Scottish Lassie was a 2-year-old when she broke her maiden with a victory in the Frizette (G1) at Aqueduct. She then was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. In her only start of 2025, Scottish Lassie set the pace going a mile last month and finished third. Toss.

2. Good Cheer, 1-2. Medaglia d’Oro – Brad Cox / Luis Saez – 7: 7-0-0 - $1,733,230. Good Cheer stayed undefeated when she got her first Grade 1 victory in the Kentucky Oaks by more than two lengths with a closing move. The Godolphin homebred won four times last year and three times so far this year. She won each her races by more than two lengths was the favorite every race. In the Acorn she will make her first start in New York. Brad Cox has a pair of Acorn victories with Matareya in 2022 and Monomoy Girl in 2018. Top choice.

3. La Cara, 10-1. Street Sense – Mark Casse / Dylan Davis – 10: 4-2-0 - $881,083. La Cara is one of the three Grade 1 winners in the Acorn field. She won the Ashland (G1) with a front-end trip against a field of eight at Keeneland. Then in the Kentucky Oaks she was on the lead but stopped badly to ninth on a sealed, wet-fast track. La Cara had two other victories on the road to the Oaks in the Pocahontas (G3) at Churchill Downs and the Suncoast at Tampa Bay Downs. She was a maiden winner at Saratoga last year. Expect big odds.

4. Shred the Gnar, 3-1. Into Mischief – Brian Lynch / Jose Ortiz – 3: 2-1-0 - $128,960. Shred the Gnar debuted in February at Gulfstream Park and missed by a neck. In March she stretched out to a mile and was a front-end maiden winner by more than six lengths. Last month she won an allowance at Churchill by seven while racing on the lead with the highest speed figure in the field. The Acorn is her first start in any kind of stakes race after being the favorite in all three starts. A lot to ask.

5. Bless the Broken, 10-1. Laoban – William Walden / John Velazquez – 8: 2-2-2 - $420,835. Bless the Broken was third in the Kentucky Oaks with a closing rally from far back. She was a debut winner at Evangeline Downs in July and then changed to the barn of Will Walden, who put her in a pair of Kentucky allowances before trying the Oaks trail. She was second in the Silverbulletday and third in the Rachel Alexandra (G2) before winning the Bourbonette Oaks on the synthetic track at Turfway Park. John Velazquez won the Acorn five times from 2000 to 2020. Win contender.

6. Look Forward, 15-1. Bolt d’Oro – Michael McCarthy / Umberto Rispoli – 6: 3-1-0 - $505,675. Look Forward was a first-time out winner at Del Mar in November after racing on the lead. She then changed to the barn of Michael McCarthy and ran second in the Starlet (G2) at Los Alamitos. In January she won the Santa Ynez. Look Forward stretched out in a pair of graded stakes and ran seventh and sixth. She cut back to seven furlongs and won the Eight Belles (G2) on the Oaks undercard after pressing the pace. Toss.

7. Quickick, 20-1. McKinzie – Tom Amoss / Flavien Prat – 7: 1-1-2 - $411,000. Quickick broke her maiden in her second race at Saratoga for Tom Amoss. Then she was second in the Alcibiades (G1) and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. This year Quickick was fifth in the Honeybee (G3) and fourth in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2). She was far back in the Kentucky Oaks for the entire race. Toss.

Summary: Four of the fillies in the Acorn had their best results when racing as part of the early pace. That gives the advantage to Good Cheer and Bless the Broken. Those two finished first and third in the Kentucky Oaks. Bless the Broken ran the best race of her career in the Oaks as Good Cheer silenced some of the handicappers who questioned her undefeated record that was lacking a Grade 1 victory.

Undefeated records usually come to an end, but this field of seven has the right pace scenario for her running style. One more time for the Brad Cox runner, so Good Cheer is the top pick in the Acorn.