Oaks News

Photo By: Benoit

Diplomat Lady (right) is shown defeating early Oaks favorite Balance last December in the Gr. I Hollywood Starlet. She'll try to rebound off of a pair of poor efforts to start her 3-year-old campiagn and show that she belongs in the Kentucky Oaks picture when she heads a field of 10 to post as the 3-1 morning-line favorite in Thursday's Stonerside Beaumont.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 12, 2006) - The $250,000 Gr. II Stonerside Beaumont presents one of the final opportunities for 3-year-old fillies to earn their way into the starting gate for next month's Kentucky Oaks, and that allure has resulted in a sizable field of 10 for the seven-furlong event to be run Thursday at Keeneland.

While the Beaumont is traditionally held at the seven-panel, sprinter's distance, it has improbably proven to be a popular final prep for the Kentucky Oaks, especially over the course of the past few years with the likes of Bird Town using the Beaumont to capture the Oaks in 2003. Several Oaks hopefuls will be out to try and replicate that feat in here, most notably Diplomat Lady and Joint Effort - both definite to move on to the May 5th Oaks with a solid effort on Thursday.

Trained by Christopher Paasch, Diplomat Lady ships in from her California base as the most accomplished filly in the Beaumont field, having defeated early Oaks favorite Balance in her final start at two in the Gr. I Hollywood Starlet last December. The speedy daughter of Forestry is turning back from a pair of sub par efforts in the Gr. I Las Virgenes and Gr. I Santa Anita Oaks around two turns in her only starts at three, and she comes in with a solid series of works for this.

Diplomat Lady, the 3-1 morning-line favorite for the Beaumont, has had problems settling in her first two starts of the year, but if she can relax on Thursday she figures to be awfully tough to handle with her immense back class.

Jockey Cornelio Velasquez takes over the reins in here, as Diplomat Lady will break from post No. 4.

Joint Effort will also take a lot of support at the windows in this affair. Trained by Dale Romans, the Runaway Groom filly was an impressive upset winner of the lucrative Sunshine Millions Oaks at Gulfstream Park in her seasonal debut before failing to fire as the favorite last time out in the Gr. II Forward Gal, finishing seventh.

Joint Effort will try to rebound with a big effort in the Beaumont, which would earn her a shot at the Oaks, but she'll have her work cut out for her due to her late-closing tactics over a track that typically flatters speed.

Jockey Rene Douglas takes over the mount aboard Joint Effort, and they will break on the inside of Diplomat Lady from post No. 3 as the 5-1 co-third choice.

Trainer Todd Pletcher is double strong in the Beaumont with the uncoupled entry of Yachats and India.

India, the 4-1 early second choice, is the more accomplished of the Pletcher charge, having placed in the Gr. III Valley Stream at two and most recently placing in the Gr. II Forward Gal last month at Gulfstream Park, where she ran a solid second against some of the better sophomore filly sprinters on the East coast. The daughter of Hennessy will have to overcome the far outside post No. 10 in here, but she seems to possess the necessary tactical speed to negotiate early position under regular rider John Velazquez.

Yachats has not raced since finishing fourth as the favorite in the Gr. III Old Hat at Gulfstream Park in February. The Forest Camp filly shows a local work for this and picks up the services of hot rider Rafael Bejarano.

Yachats will break from post No. 5 as the early co-third choice at 5-1 with Joint Effort and Dance Daily.

Dance Daily raised some eyebrows earlier this year with her upset victory over champion stablemate Folklore in the Gr. II Santa Ynez at Santa Anita in January, which was at the seven-furlong distance of Thursday's Beaumont. Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, the daughter of Five Star Day also bodes a perfect two-for-two record over the Keeneland surface, and she figures to be tough from just off the early pace if she too can negotiate a good trip from her outside post.

Dance Daily will be piloted for the first time by jockey Robby Albarado from post No. 9 on Thursday, and a good effort could potentially also earn her another try around two turns in next month's Oaks.

The full lineup for the Stonerside Beaumont from the rail out includes (with jockeys): Terri's Charmer (Bridgmohan), Fast Deal (Prado), Joint Effort (Douglas), Diplomat Lady (Velasquez), Yachats (Bejarano), Lake Alice (Chapman), Wildcat Bettie B (Thompson), Motion (Martinez), Dance Daily (Albarado), and India (Velazquez).

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