ASPEN TREE - Trainer Carl Nafzger made a surprise move by being the first to make an entry in the Kentucky Oaks this morning when he submitted Buckram Oak Farm's Aspen Tree. On Monday, he entered the filly in the 7 ½ furlong La Troienne to be run Thursday. Second last out in the Beaumont at Keeneland, Nafzger named Javier Castellano to ride Aspen Tree. The daughter of Holy Bull has not finished off the board in six career starts, but has not won since her maiden victory at Ellis Park on Aug. 22.

DANCE AWAY CAPOTE - The Pandora Farms' gray filly parted the "Zito Sea" this morning en route to the racetrack, working her way through a large cluster of reporters gathered near her barn. Dance Away Capote handled the tight quarters in fine fashion and went about her paces with a mile and one-half gallop once on the track. Exercise rider Leigh Offutt was aboard for the morning moves.

"She's doing as good as she can be doing," assistant trainer Dave Rock said. "She's eating well and moving well. Hopefully on Friday we can get some pace, someone to go with Sis City. Hopefully it will set up that way for her late run."

Trainer H. Graham Motion is due in Louisville later today. John Velazquez will ride Dance Away Capote in Friday's Oaks.

IN THE GOLD - Live Oak Plantation's In the Gold galloped Tuesday morning at Keeneland under exercise rider Jorge Abreu. Trainer Nick Zito plans to bring the winner of the Stonerside Beaumont (GII) in his most recent start to Churchill Downs on Thursday for her appearance in Friday's Oaks.

Rafael Bejarano, who rode the filly for the first time in the Beaumont, has the mount.

"I am sure Sis City looks outstanding," Zito said in analyzing the Oaks. "I just hope she (In The Gold) runs her normal good race."

GALLANT SECRET - Trainer James Jackson reported that Elkhorn Oaks Inc.'s filly Gallant Secret is right on schedule after galloping two miles at Keeneland Race Course Tuesday morning. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Menifee will ship to Churchill Downs on Friday, day of the Kentucky Oaks.

Gallant Secret, who will be a longshot in the race, has run off the pace in each of her 10 career starts. "She needs to run in the stretch," Jackson said Tuesday morning from Lexington. "From the three-eighths (pole) to the house, that's where she needs to run. I'm confident in the rider (Mike Smith) in that he'll figure his way. And I'm satisfied that she'll run her eyeballs out.

"She's a tough filly to gallop. She takes a big hold and trains hard. It takes a little more to gallop her and that's why I think she'll like the extra distance (of the Oaks). I hope she's laying 8 to 10 lengths off it (the pace) and makes a big run. She's dead-ready to run."

Should Gallant Secret race to victory Friday, Jackson would become the first African-American trainer to win the Kentucky Oaks. The 59-year-old trainer has notched numerous stakes wins throughout his decades-long career, including the Michigan Sire Stakes five times.

MEMORETTE - Betty Currin's Memorette took to the Churchill Downs racetrack for 15 minutes Tuesday morning for a jog, brief schooling in the starting gate and a light gallop.

She stood nicely in the gate for Joe Deegan, a jockey who has served as an exercise rider for Memorette this week as well as Kentucky Derby contenders High Limit and Sort It Out. (Deegan broke his left forearm in a starting gate mishap in mid-February. He's healed and expects to be back riding in races the week after the Derby.)

Trainer Bill Currin was getting ready for his trip to Kentucky from California Tuesday morning. He is confident of Memorette's chances in the Oaks on Friday.

"She is a solid Grade I filly. With no disrespect to (owner) Marty Wygod, I think she would have beat Sweet Catomine in the Santa Anita Oaks had that race been an eighth of a mile longer. She was slowly gaining on her.

"And in the Las Virgenes, she had Sharp Lisa beat, but Kent (jockey Desormeaux) dropped his whip at the sixteenth pole.

"I've been pointing her to this race for the last five months," said Currin, who is proud to have accepted the trophy, along with his wife Betty, when Memorette was honored by the Thoroughbred Owners of California as the best 2-year-old California-bred filly last year.

RUGULA - Rugula was the picture of calm Tuesday morning as her groom hosed off her legs following a trip to the track for a jog, a mile and three-eighths gallop and a walk through the paddock. "Everything's perfect so far," said trainer Grant Forster, a 30-year-old native of Langley, British Columbia, and son of reknowned Canadian trainer Dave Forster.

"She is plenty fit, but I like to see her relaxed," he said. "I'd prefer to see Sis City inside of Summerly, that way she'll relax better with something to run at. Her last race at Oaklawn (Fantasy Stakes) was paceless. Greta (jockey Kuntzweiler) seems to think she'll relax better with enough speed up front."

Forster has only been training horses on his own for three years, but his experience in the industry goes back much farther, thanks in part to working with his father through the years. A graduate of the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program, Forster also has worked in the field of media relations at Emerald Downs. He officially got his trainer's license in January 2003.

"To be here already in my career, I'm having a ball. This is what it's all about," Forster said.

RUNWAY MODEL - Dr. Naveed Chowhan's rock-steady filly turned in her final major tune-up for Friday's Kentucky Oaks with a sharp :35.20 blowout breeze at Churchill Downs. With Eddie Martin in the saddle, Runway Model galloped out a half-mile in :48 flat, according to trainer Bernie Flint.

"We galloped her a mile and then let her blow out down the lane," Flint said. "She needed a pony to get her to the track and she needed a pony to get her to pull up. She's full of energy right now."

Flint will give a leg up to Southern California leading rider Patrick Valenzuela in Friday's Oaks. Flint said he never has ridden Valenzuela in a race, but looks forward to the opportunity.

"P. Val is as good as it gets," Flint said. "He's no dummy. If they're not going fast enough up front, don't be surprised if he just puts this filly right up into the pace. He'll do what's right. He's one of the best."

SIS CITY - Stonerside Stable and partners' Sis City, the heavy favorite to win the Kentucky Oaks, jogged at Churchill Downs early Tuesday morning with Michelle Nevin aboard.

The frontrunner will be expected to go to the lead in the 1 1/8-mile race as usual, but could get a challenge from Summerly, another contender who shows speed in her past performances.

"We'll let Prado (jockey Edgar Prado) and the filly decide what to do," said trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. "Even though we look good (on paper), we need everything we can get. We still have to get the job done."

Meanwhile, also getting the job done is Sis City's co-owner Joe Torre, manager of the New York Yankees. A longtime racing fan, Torre is with the team in Florida this week for a four-game stint against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Yankees will be in California on Oaks Day to play the Oakland A's. Torre's boss, George Steinbrenner, owns the leading contender for the Kentucky Derby, Bellamy Road.

SUMMERLY - Trainer Steve Asmussen reported that Winchell Thoroughbreds' star filly came out of Monday's final Kentucky Oaks workout in good order Tuesday morning. Summerly spent 45 minutes walking the Asmussen shedrow this morning.

"She cleaned up her feed," Asmussen said. "We have a very good routine with her and think we know how to bring her up to a race, and she's right on cue. Of course, we thought she was right on cue before the Ashland, but it doesn't always work the way you think it will."

Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey has the mount in Friday's Oaks, and Asmussen knows Summerly is in capable hands.

"I'm just a Point A to Point B kind of trainer," he said. "The only thing I ever want to see, plan-wise, is to get from the gate to the wire as fast as possible. My job is to have her peaking and confident - and the rest is up to Jerry."

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