Monday, April 26 Barn Notes
By: Oaks Notes Team
A.P. ADVENTURE - The two-time stakes winner A.P. Adventure spent a
second morning walking the shedrow Monday following a five-furlong work
in 1:00.80 Saturday at Churchill Downs. The daughter of A.P. Indy was
led by trainer Wallace Dollase's right-hand lady, his daughter Aimee.
"She's doing good," Aimee Dollase said. "We just wanted to give
her another day of walking. She'll go back to the track to jog tomorrow
after the break."
Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith will be in Kentucky to ride A.P. Adventure
on Friday.
ASHADO - The top-flight filly Ashado continued her Churchill Downs'
preparations for the Kentucky Oaks with some exercise and education
Monday morning in Louisville.
Trainer Todd Pletcher brought the daughter of Saint Ballado
trackside at approximately 6:30 with exercise rider Michelle Nihei
attached. They then went through a one-mile jog around the big oval, a
walk through the paddock and a stand in the starting gate that all "went
very well," according to the conditioner.
"She's doing good and maybe we can get lucky on Friday,"
Pletcher offered.
Ashado has five wins, two seconds and a third in eight lifetime
starts, all but one of them in graded stakes company. She has won
$890,800.
CLASS ABOVE/VICTORY U.S.A. - Padua Stables' Class Above, winner of the
Bourbonette Stakes at Turfway Park on March 20, tuned up for her
engagement in Friday's Kentucky Oaks with a sharp half-mile in :47:40
Monday under Dana Barnes.
"She worked awesome," said trainer Bob Baffert. "The track this
morning was the best its been and I feel good about the way she's
doing." Class Above, a daughter of Quiet American, galloped out five
furlongs in 1:00.60. She was equipped with blinkers for the workout.
Baffert timed the filly in slightly slower time, :48 flat and on
out in 1:00.80.
Baffert's other hopeful for the Kentucky Oaks, Thomas Van Meter
II's Victory U.S.A., jogged after visiting the starting gate for a
schooling session. The Victory Gallop filly was an easy winner of the
Beaumont Stakes over Eclipse Award champion Halfbridled April 8.
HALFBRIDLED - The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine and champion
2-year-old filly Halfbridled went trackside at Churchill Downs Monday
morning at 7 a.m. The handsome daughter of Unbridled had exercise rider
Paul Nilluang aboard as they combined jogging and galloping for about a
mile on the big oval.
Nilluang is running the show at the Richard Mandella barn while the
trainer takes care of business in California. Mandella is expected to
return to Louisville Monday night and be back at Barn 41 first thing
Tuesday morning.
Halfbridled is likely to have a final blowout at some point this week.
Nilluang said Mandella would call that shot on that upon his return.
HOLLYWOOD STORY - The Wild Rush filly was en route from
California to Kentucky Monday, with a scheduled mid-afternoon arrival at
Churchill Downs.
John Shirreffs trains the filly, who had her final Oaks drill at
Hollywood Park Saturday morning with six furlongs in 1:13.40. George
Krikorian's runner broke her maiden last December in the Hollywood
Starlet Stakes.
Victor Espinoza will have the mount again Friday.
ISLAND SAND - Trainer Larry Jones is also serving as "exercise boy" this
week for his Kentucky Oaks contender Island Sand. He took her to the
paddock for some schooling and then out for a mile and a half gallop at
Churchill Downs on Monday morning and returned to the barn smiling.
"She could be the barn pet," said Jones. "And you don't really
expect that out of a Tabasco Cat. The only time she gets rowdy is when
she hasn't done enough."
Island Sand's owner, Jim Osborne of Little Rock, Ark., was on
hand for the morning exercise as well. "I've owned some nice horses
over the years," said Osborne, "but she is the nicest so far."
Osborne's primary business is investing in the stock market. His stable
name is B.A. Man, Inc. "As in 'Be A Man.' We came up with the name
over a few beers," he said.
LAST SONG - After watching the daughter of Unbridled's Song
drill a sharp five furlongs Sunday morning, trainer Carl Nafzger likes
his chances in Friday's Oaks.
"Our filly will run big," Nafzger said. "I think the extra
distance of the Oaks will be to her advantage."
Last Song, owned by Buckram Oak Farm, won the Bonnie Miss Stakes
at a mile and an eighth in March, and last out was third in the mile and
a sixteenth Ashland Stakes. The Oaks is run at nine furlongs.
The bay filly, who broke her maiden at Churchill Downs last
November, drilled five-eighths in 1:00.20 Sunday morning as she went out
early and caught a fast track before the rains came.
Nafzger says he will leave tactics up to jockey Edgar Prado.
"He's ridden her before, and he'll decide how her race goes."
MADCAP ESCAPADE - The unbeaten daughter of Hennessy, who blazed
five furlongs in :58 in her Friday workout, was on the track for an easy
gallop Monday morning.
Trainer Frank Brothers said everything was going along smoothly
for Bruce Lunsford's filly, who made the Ashland Stakes her fourth
straight victory on April 3. Jerry Bailey has the mount in the Oaks.
SILENT SIGHS/HOUSE OF FORTUNE/HOLLYWOOD STORY - Oaks fillies coming
from California on the same shipment with St Averil and Castledale have
the following stall assignments: Silent Sighs, Julio Canani the trainer,
Barn 47 (Albert Stall, Jr.), House of Fortune Barn 27 (Peter Vestal),
and Hollywood Story, Barn 41 Stall 11, trainer John Shirreffs.
STELLAR JAYNE - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who won't have a Derby starter
for only the second time since 1981, is still garnering attention as he
should have a starter in the Kentucky Oaks in Spendthrift Farm and
partners' Stellar Jayne.
Lukas indicated he would talk with the filly's owners, which
includes Chuck Kidder, Nancy Cole and Nick Strong, today to decide
whether the daughter of Wild Rush would be entered tomorrow for Friday's
race. "She's 50-50 for sure," he said.
Stellar Jayne worked five furlongs at Churchill Downs on Sunday
in 1:00 flat, so she stayed in the barn today. She spent the winter in
California and is winless.
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