A.P. ADVENTURE - The A.P. Indy offspring named A.P. Adventure stretched her legs Thursday morning one day prior to her date in the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. With her regular exercise rider Rhett Fincher in the boot, the bay lassie covered a mile and one eighth in a gallop following the track's 8 a.m. renovation break.

Assistant trainer Aimee Dollase noted that the move went well and that her filly continues forward toward her date in the Grade I filly classic.

"She'll gallop again in the morning," Dollase said. "She'll go about a mile around 6:30 or 7."

Aimee's father, Wallace, is the trainer for A.P. Adventure, and he was on hand for the filly's exercise Thursday, as was her mother, Cincy. Also on the scene at Barn 39 was another Dollase daughter, Michelle, along with her three children.

Michelle Dollase, who previously worked as an assistant with her father and lately has been running a very successful lay-up farm in the California community of Bradbury near Santa Anita racetrack, has recently relocated to Kentucky and will open a lay-up farm here on 70 acres she purchased in nearby Shelbyville.

Michelle Dollase, who formerly was married to jockey Corey Nakatani, called her old facility Overview Stables, but will call the new one Overview Farm. She'll open for business in June.

ASHADO - Exercise rider Michelle Nihei had the Kentucky Oaks filly Ashado ready to be the first one out of the barn Thursday morning for her exercise when the track opened at 5:15. Ashado, you see, wouldn't have it any other way.

"She has got to be the first one out in the morning," Nihei noted. "That's her way. If she sees another horse is tacked up and ready to go before her, she'll kick her stall down. She wants to be first and that's all there is to it."

Nihei and trainer Todd Pletcher are only too glad to accommodate the dark daughter of Saint Ballado. And why not, when the 3-year-old miss has won five of her eight starts, with two seconds and a third besides, with all but one of those races coming in graded stakes competition.

Nihei and Ashado galloped a mile and a quarter in the dark and did it "strongly," according to the rider.

Ashado, the 4-1 second choice in the $500,000 Oaks, will only walk the shedrow on race morning Friday.

CLASS ABOVE/VICTORY U.S.A. - Padua Stables' Class Above and Thomas Van Meter II's Victory U.S.A., trainer Bob Baffert's twin threat in Friday's Kentucky Oaks, each galloped a mile and one-half Thursday morning under exercise rider Dana Barnes.

Corey Nakatani rides Class Above, while Pat Day will be aboard Victory U.S.A.

HALFBRIDLED - The juvenile filly champion Halfbridled was back at the track Thursday morning for a one-mile gallop under exercise rider Paul Nilluang. The dark bay or brown daughter of the late sire Unbridled was coming off her previous day's effort in which she buzzed three furlongs in a nifty :34.60 as her final major move leading up to Friday's Grade I Kentucky Oaks.

Trainer Richard Mandella was on hand for his filly's exercise and noted that he likely would return his sophomore filly to the racetrack to gallop on race morning.

"I normally take my horses to the track the day they race," the California-based conditioner said. "Now if it is storming and raining, I don't have to go. But all things being equal, we'll be out there tomorrow."

Mandella was asked who he fears most in the nine-furlong Oaks.

"Well, if Frankie's filly (trainer Frank Brothers' Madcap Escapade) gets loose, I think we're all going to be in trouble. But if she takes some pressure, I think that mile and an eighth might tell on her. The other one I'm really concerned about is Ashado. She's a gritty, hard-trying filly and you know she's going to be right there."

Alex Solis will be aboard Halfbridled in the $500,000 Oaks.

HOLLYWOOD STORY - The Wild Rush filly galloped a mile and a half around the oval Thursday morning with exercise rider Michelle Jensen aboard.

Trainer John Shirreffs said he was pleased with the filly's progress and expected her to be at her best in Friday's Oaks. Hollywood Story, owned by George Krikorian, broke her maiden in the Hollywood Starlet, a Grade 1 stakes event, on Dec. 21. So far this year, she was second to A.P. Adventure in the Las Virgenes and then fourth behind Silent Sighs in the Santa Anita Oaks. Shirreffs said that if she hadn't been carried wide around the stretch turn, she would have moved up at least one spot.

Victor Espinoza, who took over the riding duties this year (Pat Valenzuela was the filly's rider last year), will be aboard Friday.

HOUSE OF FORTUNE - With owner Arnold Zetcher on the scene, trainer Ron McAnally sent multi stakes-winning House of Fortune to the track for a gallop of a mile and one-half under exercise rider Mike Johnson.

"We let her gallop out pretty strong the last eighth," said McAnally, a Hall of Fame conditioner seeking his first success in the prestigious Kentucky Oaks.

House of Fortune, a California-bred daughter of Free House, won the Grade II Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park most recently after a 17-length score in the California Oaks at Golden Gate Fields.

ISLAND SAND - Trainer Larry Jones jogged Island Sand a quarter mile and galloped her a mile at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning.

"Some of that jogging was just trying to get her back to the barn," he said. "They [horses] have it figured out when it's time to run [race]. She's easy to figure out, too. She's far enough away from her breeze that she knows she's fixin' to do something."

Island Sand will walk the shedrow Friday morning.

LAST SONG - The Buckram Oak Farm runner galloped a mile and a quarter Thursday morning, her serious work behind her.

"She's ready," trainer Carl Nafzger said. "She'll run her race."

Last Song goes back to nine furlongs in Friday's Oaks, and distance is her strong suit. She won the Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream in March at a mile and an eighth. Last out in the mile and a sixteenth Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, she finished third behind Madcap Escapade and Ashado, two of her rivals on Friday.

Edgar Prado, who was aboard in her Florida victory, has the mount again in the Oaks.

MADCAP ESCAPADE - The daughter of Hennessy, who puts her unbeaten streak on the line in Friday's Oaks, galloped once around the oval Thursday morning.

"She's fine; all's well," said trainer Frank Brothers.

Bruce Lunsford's filly will be looking for her fifth straight victory in the Oaks. She won the Forward Gal Stakes sprinting at Gulfstream, and last out made a winning debut at two turns when she defeated Ashado a half-length in the mile and a sixteenth Ashland Stakes.

Jerry Bailey will be aboard as Madcap Escapade tries nine furlongs for the first time Friday.

SILENT SIGHS - Observed by owner-breeder Marty Wygod and trainer Julio Canani, Santa Anita Oaks winner Silent Sighs galloped a mile and one-half.

Under exercise rider Mikki Fincher, the Benchmark filly was allowed to gallop out strongly the final quarter mile, Canani said. David Flores rides Silent Sighs, a winner of four of five races, her only loss a half-length defeat by House of Fortune in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies in early November at Santa Anita. Asked how his filly was doing at Churchill Downs, Canani said, "She's happy."

Silent Sighs will school in the Churchill Downs paddock today with horses entered in the second race.

STELLAR JAYNE - A gallop around the Churchill Downs racetrack was the order of the day for Kentucky Oaks contender Stellar Jayne.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has won the filly classic four times, one victory shy of the record held by the late Woody Stephens. A four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, this is only the second year since 1981 that Lukas does not have a starter in the race.

Stellar Jayne, 30-to-1 in the morning line, will be ridden by jockey Robby Albarado, and breaks from the far outside post position 12. Albarado has not yet won a Kentucky Oaks or a Kentucky Derby. He does have a Derby mount on Saturday with Read the Footnotes. Six jockeys have accomplished an Oaks/Derby Double in the same year, with Jerry Bailey being the last in 1993.

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