Watch: 6 Kentucky Oaks candidates work Friday morning

Six candidates for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks next Friday worked over a fast track at Churchill Downs. The workers were Tarifa (five furlongs in 59.2 seconds), Thorpedo Anna (five furlongs in 59.4 seconds), Gin Gin (five furlongs in 59.6 seconds), Into Champagne (five furlongs in 1:00.0), Ways and Means (four furlongs in 46.2 seconds) and Where’s My Ring (four furlongs in 46.6 seconds).

Manama Gold, who worked four furlongs in 48.6 seconds, was taken out of Oaks consideration by trainer Todd Pletcher.

Gin Gin, Tarifa. Trainer Brad Cox’s duo of Gin Gin and Tarifa completed their final tune-ups prior to the Longines Kentucky Oaks, working together through five furlongs in 59.6 seconds and 59.2 seconds, respectively.

Tarifa, ridden by jockey Flavien Prat, started the work about two lengths back of her stablemate, who was ridden by Kelvin Perez. The duo cruised through opening quarter-mile of 23.8 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.0.

“I thought the move was very strong,” Cox said. “Tarifa started just behind Gin Gin and they both finished up well together and galloped out strong. A good, solid move. We’re looking forward to getting them ready for next Friday.”

Into Champagne. Gulfstream Parks Oaks (G3) third-place finisher Into Champagne completed a five-furlong breeze Friday morning in 1:00.0 for trainer Ian Wilkes. With jockey Julien Leparoux aboard, Into Champagne galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.0.

“Everything was really good,” Wilkes said. “I couldn’t be any happier with the way she’s doing. Now we’ll gallop, school her in the paddock, school her in the gate to get ready – the normal things. And keep her happy.”

Into Champagne is Wilkes’ second filly in the Oaks, with Champagne Anyone having finished fourth in 2019.

“That’s the key (to winning),” he said. “You just have to get in the gate. Once you’re in the gate, it’s a long run to the first turn, so you don’t have to rush. You just hope for a clean break, and go from there.”

Just F Y I. The improved level of fitness trainer Bill Mott has been seeing from champion filly Just F Y I was again on display Friday. George Krikorian’s homebred daughter of Justify put in another energetic gallop, going about 1 1/2 miles beneath the Twin Spires after going through the new Churchill Downs paddock.

Just F Y I had has just one start since taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) last November, an effort that capped off a 3-for-3 campaign for the Eclipse Award honoree. After having her seasonal bow delayed because of illness, the bay filly finished second in the Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 5.

“Her last race, we went into that last race not 100 percent cranked up,” Mott said. “She had been sick and she missed a couple works. We got a couple works into her and we ran her and I believe she was probably needed the race, just because she had been off several months. It seems like she’s bounced out of that race good.”

Mott added he might breeze Just F Y I on Sunday.

Lemon Muffin. Taking to the track during the 7:30 a.m. EDT training period along with her stablemate, Kentucky Derby hopeful Just Steel, Lemon Muffin put in a routine gallop as trainer D. Wayne Lukas pondered when he might give the Oaks hopeful her final workout.

After winning the Honeybee Stakes (G3) on Feb. 24, Lemon Muffin threw in a disappointing effort when she finished seventh in the Fantasy Stakes (G2), an outing Lukas is drawing a line through given how dull the filly was the day after.

“She didn’t feel good when she ran in the Fantasy, so throw that one out,” Lukas said. “She was really flat the next day but she’s training really well since. She’s going to have something to say about this race.”

Leslie’s Rose, Manama Gold. Whisper Hill Farm’s Leslie’s Rose merely walked the shedrow at trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn on the Churchill Downs backside Friday morning.

The Into Mischief filly, who is likely to be one of the favorites for next Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, had worked a half mile in 49.4 seconds Thursday at Churchill in her final major move in front of the nine-furlong classic.

“She came out of it (the work) well,” Pletcher said. “We’re all good.”

Victorious’ Manama Gold worked a half-mile in 48.6 seconds with Irad Ortz Jr. in the saddle during the special Oaks and Derby training period between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. EDT.

The 3-year-old daughter of Star Guitar has been a late arrival at the Pletcher barn in hopes of finding a spot in year’s $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks. Her most recent outing was a tally in the UAE Oaks (G3) at Meydan in Dubai in February, a triumph that gave her the points for entrance in this year’s Kentucky Oaks.

But because of various issues, notably a late ship from the Middle East, the conditioner doesn’t feel the Louisiana-bred is ready to take on an assignment as tough at next Friday’s championship race.

“She worked OK this morning but she got real tired at the end of it,” Pletcher said. “She looks like she has the makings of a good filly, but we’re going to need some more time to work with her before she’s ready to go. We won’t be putting her in the Oaks.”

Power Squeeze. Kentucky-bred Power Squeeze arrived at Churchill Downs at 9 p.m. EDT Thursday from South Florida, and will visit the track for the first time on Saturday.

On Wednesday, she was timed by Gulfstream Park clockers going four furlongs in 49.03 seconds in her final work in preparation for the Oaks.

Trainer Jorge Delgado is arriving in Louisville on Sunday.

Regulatory Risk, Ways And Means. While Klaravich Stables’ Regulatory Risk put in a routine gallop ahead of her planned breeze on Saturday, her stablemate Ways and Means showcased how fast the Churchill Downs surface was playing when she drilled four furlongs in 46.2 seconds under exercise rider Peter Roman.

Working solo, Ways and Means cranked out splits of 12.4 and 23.4 seconds en route to her blistering final time, galloping out in 58.4 seconds and 1:11.8.

Trainer Chad Brown didn’t hide the fact the work was more than he wanted to see from the daughter of Practical Joke a week out from the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but he was encouraged by the way the filly he calls the best he has trained on dirt handled the effort.

“She just did a little bit too much,” Brown said. “It seemed like she was doing it in hand but it’s a little quicker than I was looking for so that part’s disappointing. But she came back good from it and hopefully she can overcome it. The track was fast, and a bit of rider error.”

Ways and Means returned from a near seven-month layoff to finish second in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) on March 30. While Friday’s move wasn’t exactly what Brown ordered, it did showcase part of the reason why the filly has earned such high regard from her four-time Eclipse Award winning trainer.

“Part of what you saw there is just her raw talent,” Brown said. “Right on top of the race a week out, I just wish she had done just a tick less. But looking at some of the times, it seems the track’s very quick. I have turf horses who just went down there in 48 and 2 and they can’t run on dirt at all so maybe the track is just that fast hopefully.

“I will say, she doesn’t seem to be blowing much. That gives me a little bit of relief. So we’ll see.”

Regulatory Risk galloped with Gudiel Alvarez and is set to breeze on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. EDT with Jose Ortiz in the irons.

Tapit Jenallie. After Thursday morning’s half-mile breeze, Willis Horton Racing’s Tapit Jenallie walked the shedrow on Friday for trainer Eddie Milligan Jr. in preparation for the Oaks.

Jockey Manny Esquivel, who rode her to a third-place finish in the Fantasy (G2) and a second in the Honeybee (G3) at Oaklawn Park, guided the homebred daughter of Tapit to a 49.40 half-mile Thursday.

Thorpedo Anna. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was aboard Thorpedo Anna for her final major workout on Friday ahead of the Longines Kentucky Oaks for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Hernandez guided her to a five-furlong work in 59.4 seconds, with splits of 12.2 seconds and 35.4 seconds and galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.6.

“She worked really well,” Hernandez said. “She was in the bridle all the way. She’s a forward filly, and always shows how talented she is.”

“She does things really easy,” McPeek said. “She was born fast.”

The Fast Anna filly is the winner of three of her four starts with Hernandez, most recently having captured the Fantasy (G2) in her first start this year. Thorpedo Anna cost just $40,000 at the Fasig-Tipton sale in Lexington, Ky., in October 2022.

Where’s My Ring. Where’s My Ring, a solid winner of New York’s Gazelle Stakes (G3) last out on April 6, put in her final major prep for next Friday’s Kentucky Oaks when she covered a half mile in 46.6 seconds under exercise rider David Rodriguez during the special Oaks and Derby training period at Churchill Downs Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. EDT.

Veteran horseman Val Brinkerhoff was very pleased with the drill.

“It was good to see her make a move like that coming up to this kind of race,” the trainer said. “We’ve had so many issues with her; mostly small problems, but plenty of them all along the way. But now she’s right. I know we haven’t gotten to the bottom of her yet, but it’s good to have her doing well with her getting ready to take on that tough bunch next Friday. I’m just glad she’s come around.”

Brinkerhoff said top New York rider Jose Lezcano – who rode Where’s My Ring in her Gazelle triumph – again will be on board for the Kentucky Oaks.

Also Eligibles. Courtlandt Farm’s Our Pretty Woman, currently no. 15 on the Kentucky Oaks preference list, galloped about 1 1/2 miles at 5:30 a.m. EDT. Friday with Wilson Fabian in the irons. She’d need one defection to make the Oaks field.

Eclipse Thoroughbreds’ Candied walked trainer Todd Pletcher’s shedrow following her half-mile move in 47.6 seconds Thursday morning.