ASPEN TREE - Trainer Carl Nafzger said Wednesday morning that the decision on which race Aspen Tree would run in this week - the La Troienne on Thursday or the Kentucky Oaks on Friday - would be made following a discussion with the owners of Buckram Oak Farm. Nafzger entered the filly in both races.

"We'll have a conference call tomorrow," said Nafzger. "Right now, we're considering the probability of risk. Can she go a mile and an eighth? Do we think we can get her Grade I stakes placed?"

The daughter of Holy Bull has raced nine furlongs once, finishing third in the Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream, beaten less than three lengths for it all. She is Grade II and III stakes placed.

The Grade III La Troienne at 7 ½ furlongs is the ninth race on the card on Thursday with an approximate post time of 4:45 p.m. Nafzger has until 45 minutes prior to post time to declare his intentions.

Aspen Tree worked five furlongs at Churchill Downs on Sunday in 1:01.40, according to assistant trainer Ian Wilkes. The move was not recorded on the official work tab. She galloped Wednesday.

DANCE AWAY CAPOTE - Bourbonette Breeders' Cup winner Dance Away Capote went to the track just after 9 a.m. Wednesday for her usual mile and one-half gallop under exercise rider Leigh Offutt.

Assistant trainer Dave Rock reported that "all's well" in the camp of the Pandora Farms filly. Trainer H. Graham Motion's flight touched down in Louisville just moments before Dance Away Capote's gallop, and the Maryland-based trainer rushed to the rail to oversee the move.

"I was really pleased the way she looked today, especially since I have not seen her all week," Motion said. "She's settled in and seemed relaxed. That's a big deal, I think, when it comes to Oaks and Derby Week - handling all the commotion."

Dance Away Capote visited the Churchill Downs paddock for a schooling session around noon Wednesday as well.

Jockey John Velazquez has the mount in the Kentucky Oaks.

GALLANT SECRET - Trainer James Jackson and Gallant Secret are staying at Keeneland Race Course until race day, avoiding the crowds and hoopla that are common on the Churchill Downs backside during Derby week.

"We're not supposed (expected) to win it," said Jackson, further justifying his decision to stay in Lexington until Friday. "But this filly started coming around last year and I took my time with her. She ran a bad race when she ran a route of ground (ninth in the Alcibiades) and I took her down to Florida for the winter. I always had the intention to come back to Kentucky (for the Oaks)."

A native of Lexington, Jackson was the leading trainer in Michigan for more than two decades, having won numerous training titles at Detroit Race Course and Hazel Park. He's back in Kentucky now, where he boards and breeds horses in addition to training.

Gallant Secret is a Kentucky homebred owned by Elkhorn Oaks Inc., which is Jim Fortney of Roswell, Ga. The farm is in Lexington, off New Bedford Pike.

Gallant Secret blew out three-eighths of a mile at Keeneland with an exercise rider aboard Wednesday morning. Jackson said he was very pleased with the move and timed her in :36.40.

IN THE GOLD - The Live Oak Plantation's In the Gold galloped a mile and a half at Keeneland under exercise rider Jorge Abreu.

Trainer Nick Zito said the Golden Missile filly would train at Keeneland in the morning and then ship to Churchill Downs later in the day.

Rafael Bejarano, who won on his first trip aboard In the Gold in the Stonerside Beaumont (GII), retains the mount for the Oaks.

"She ran really good (in the Beaumont)," Bejarano said. "She looks ready for this race and I think she has a really good chance."

RUNWAY MODEL - Runway Model, fresh off her third straight bullet workout Tuesday, walked trainer Bernie Flint's shedrow for 30 minutes this morning and will walk again later this afternoon.

"We've been looking at the Oaks all along, since last fall," Flint said. "She's a tall, nicely-conformed filly with a lot of size. She was doing so good after the Churchill meet, I couldn't stop on her last fall. We finally gave her a little break before going to New Orleans.

"We planned a three-race campaign for the spring and she's done everything she's supposed to," Flint said. "There was no pace in the Fair Grounds Oaks or Ashland and she got beat, but that doesn't make me think one bit less of her. Now, if I can get her to win the Oaks, it will be third ... second ... first, a perfect three-race campaign. We've beaten Sis City before (in the 2004 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies)."

MEMORETTE - Trainer Bill Currin and his wife Betty arrived in Kentucky from California Tuesday and were at Churchill Downs Wednesday morning to see their homebred filly Memorette go out for a light gallop. "She's on her game plan," said Bill Currin.

The Kentucky Oaks will mark Currin's second career start at Churchill Downs. Two starts at Churchill Downs and both are in the famed racetrack's premier races. His other Churchill Downs starter was Outta Here, who ran seventh to Funny Cide in the 2003 Derby. "That's the kind of horses I have," Currin quipped.

"I keep 20 horses stabled at Hollywood Park year-round," said Currin. "Not 19, not 21, but 20. They call me 'Twenty Dollar Bill.' "And we have the farm (Oak Tree Farm) in northern California, but that's more of a showcase and home.

"I used to be pretty big in the construction business compared to horses, but now I'm more big on the horses and do little in construction." His company, Currin Construction, specializes in housing. "Expensive, custom residential homes," he said.

RUGULA - Al and Saundra Kirkwood's Rugula sports an impressive lifetime record of 5-2-3-0, but will take a significant step up in competition when she runs in the 131st Kentucky Oaks.

She also could have history literally riding with her, as Greta Kuntzweiler will become only the second female jockey to ride in the Oaks. Hall of Famer Julie Krone was the first, finishing third aboard Quinpool in 1993.

"It's pretty cool...neat," says Kuntzweiler, 29, of riding in the Oaks. "I don't think of it that much from a historical standpoint, though. It's more like, 'Oh, it would be great to win it!' "

Self-described as quiet and mellow, Kuntzweiler says she's been lucky to have had some nice opportunities during the six years she has been a jockey. She once won the riding title at Turfway Park and has won several major stakes races, most notably the Bassinet Stakes in 2000 with eventual Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Caressing and the 2004 Hawthorne Gold Cup aboard Freefourinternet. She agrees that the mount on Rugula in the Kentucky Oaks could be a steppingstone to a mount in a future Kentucky Derby. A victory Friday would give her widespread recognition.

"I've ridden at Churchill on Oaks and Derby Day before," she commented on performing in front of such large crowds. "This will probably be more emotional, though.

"She's really classy and smart," Kuntzweiler says of Rugula, a filly she has ridden the last three times. "She has a high cruising speed and a nice little burst - not long - about an eighth of a mile. "We come in the race being a longshot, but I'm not scared of anyone in there. She drew well (No. 6) and I think she'll show that she's more versatile than people think. She went to the lead last out, but she can come from off the pace, too," Kuntzweiler said.

Trainer Grant Forster sent out Rugula for a mile and three-eighths gallop on Wednesday morning, as well as a schooling session in the paddock and starting gate, which she has handled well all week.

SIS CITY - The 4-to-5 morning line favorite to win the 131st running of the Kentucky Oaks, Sis City galloped a mile and a half at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning with exercise rider Michelle Nevin in the saddle. The speedy filly drew the four post for the 1 1/8 mile race. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. is due to arrive in Louisville Wednesday afternoon.

Dutrow claimed Sis City out of her third career start at Saratoga last summer for $50,000. The astute purchase was made for existing clients of his, Sanford Goldfarb, Michael Dubb, Ira Davis and Joe Torre. Stonerside Stable later privately purchased a share.

Torre, well-known manager of the New York Yankees, is a longtime fan of horse racing, and became an owner three years ago when invited to become a partner on a horse competing in California. It didn't take long for him to become hooked.

"I've known (Rick) Dutrow a long time and Zimmer (close friend and then Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer) stimulated my interest in racing," Torre said from Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, where the Yankees are facing the Devil Rays this week. "I'm not an authority on it (horse racing), but it is very exciting to me. I'm a partner on 14 horses right now. It's not something I was counting on, but every time I was asked if I wanted in, I said 'yes,'" he said laughing.

Torre cannot be at Churchill Downs on Friday because the Yankees are playing the Oakland A's at home. "I have not actually seen her run in person," Torre said of Sis City. "Fortunately post time on Friday will be during batting practice and I'll be able to watch it on television. Hopefully, I'll be able to see her this fall, with the Breeders' Cup being held in New York this year."

Torre will be represented at the track, however, by his wife, Ali; her mother, and five sisters. All girls, he noted; perfect for Oaks Day.

Torre's boss, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, has a top contender in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, Bellamy Road. When asked if the two talked much about the horses, Torre said, "I'm a novice in this and he's been in it a long time. I called him to wish him luck before the Wood and to congratulate him afterwards. He was pretty emotional."

SUMMERLY - Winchell Thoroughbreds' Summerly returned to the racetrack this morning, two days after her final major Kentucky Oaks workout on Monday. Exercise Carmen Rojas was aboard as Summerly "loped" a mile and one-half, as trainer Steve Asmussen described it.

Hall of Fame rider Jerry Bailey will be reunited in the Kentucky Oaks with his winning mount from the March 12 Fair Grounds Oaks.

"To have Jerry ride her back in the Kentucky Oaks is a definite benefit," Asmussen said. "He's ridden her once before now (in the Fair Grounds Oaks), and he can go into the Oaks knowing how she moves and how he wants her to feel underneath him."

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