Oaks News

Ready to Please likely earned a spot in the starting gate for the May 5th Kentucky Oaks with her victory Friday in a bizarre renewal of the $250,000 Gr. II Fantasy at Oaklawn Park.

Ridden by Stewart Elliot, Ready to Please broke awkwardly but recovered and assumed a nice stalking position on the inside, as longshot Miss Norman took the field into the first turn and down the backstretch through a half-mile in 47 flat, with a fresh Ex Caelis pressing her on the outside. Six lengths covered the whole field heading into the far turn, as Miss Norman - the 41-1 shipper from California making her seasonal debut - turned back a challenge from fellow California shipper and 8-5 favorite Quiet Kim and appeared to be putting Ex Caelis away when a peculiar series of events commenced.

Emerging as the horse to beat at the top of the stretch, Miss Norman bolted sharply to the outside rail under the strong right-handed whip of jockey Tony Farina. Seemingly out of the race, Ex Caelis briefly inherited the lead but it wouldn't be for long, as Elliot urged Ready to Please to the front. Miss Norman angled back to the middle of the track and courageously began to make up ground before bolting again. She finally straightened and began to close into Ready to Please's margin, but Miss Norman had lost too much ground and reengaged way too late.

Ready to Please hit the wire three lengths to the good of a hard-luck Miss Norman, who out-rallied local closer Brownie Points to earn the runner-up spot from her eventful performance. Brownie Points, the 7-2 second choice, was 3 1/4-lengths clear of a flat Ex Caelis, while favorite Quiet Kim faded badly after stalking the pace wide and finished a well beaten sixth.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Ready to Please returned $9.80 for the win after completing a mile-and-a-sixteenth in 1:45.63 over fast going.

The daughter of More Than Ready was making her stakes debut and first start around two turns off a pair of dominating performances earlier this winter against maiden and allowance company at Gulfstream Park. The win was her third from five starts, pushing her career earnings to $196,150 for owner James T. Scatuorchio, who purchased the filly as a 2-year-old in training for $270,000 last February in Florida.

Ready to Please will ship to Churchill Downs on Tuesday where she is expected to join stablemate Wait a While in training up to the Kentucky Oaks for Pletcher. The Fantasy figures to produce three starters in the Oaks, as runner-up Miss Norman and fourth-place finisher Ex Caelis are both believed to point for the race. Brownie Points is not nominated for the Oaks and will probably bypass it for trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel.

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