Oaks Updates

Photo By: Rick Schmitt/CDI

Quiet Kim returned to the track Sunday for the first time since breezing a solid six furlongs in 1:12.80 Friday at Churchill Downs. The Real Quiet filly still has no rider named for next Friday's Gr.I Kentucky Oaks.

BALANCE - Amerman Racing Stables' double Grade I winner got her first feel for the Churchill Downs oval Sunday when she jogged a mile under exercise rider Erin Buttigieg at approximately 7 a.m. The daughter of Thunder Gulch, who will be one of the favorites for the $500,000 Oaks on Friday, had shipped from her Southern California base Saturday on a flight that included stablemate Sacred Light, a candidate for the Kentucky Derby.

Balance is bedded down in Barn 45 under the care of trainer Grant Hofmans, the son of her true conditioner, David Hofmans. Grant, who conditions 20 head out of the nearby Trackside Training Center, noted that his father was scheduled to fly in from Los Angeles Sunday evening.

BUSHFIRE - Trainer Eddie Kenneally reported that Homewrecker Stable LLC's Bushfire was doing well Sunday morning at Keeneland, a day after working a half mile in 47.40 over the main track at the Lexington oval. The move was the second fastest of 34 at the distance.

"She will be coming over this evening," said Kenneally, whose filly will be housed in Barn 42.

Winner of the Grade I Ashland Stakes in her previous start, Bushfire will be ridden in the Oaks by Cornelio Velasquez.

DIPLOMAT LADY - The Chris Paasch-trained filly, that shipped from California to win the Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland last out, jogged around the Churchill oval under exercise rider Alfredo Garcia Sunday morning.

Garcia said Paasch was due at Churchill Downs Monday, and that it was likely the Forestry filly would have her final Oaks breeze tomorrow morning.

Diplomat Lady, owned by Charles Cono LLC, became a Grade I winner last December when she took the Hollywood Starlet for her first win around two turns. She is second only to Balance on the list of graded stakes earnings, with a total of $460,600.

Alex Solis has the mount for the first time Friday.

ERMINE - Honeybee Stakes winner Ermine galloped a mile after the renovation break Sunday morning at Churchill Downs under regular exercise rider Ronald Savoy.

Owned by Oxbow Racing LLC, Ermine will be ridden in the Oaks by Robby Albarado for trainer Ronnie Werner.

EX CAELIS - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has named Julien Leparoux to ride the Circle C Group Stables' Ex Caelis in Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

The 22-year-old Leparoux, who broke the record for most victories in a single meet this winter at Turfway Park, shared the riding title at the recently concluded Keeneland spring meet with Rafael Bejarano.

Ex Caelis walked the shedrow at the Lukas barn Sunday morning, a day after working six furlongs in 1:15 under exercise rider Jesse Cirillo.

Ex Caelis will be attempting to give Lukas his fifth victory in the Oaks, joining the ranks of Blush With Pride (1982), Lucky Lucky Lucky (1984), Open Mind (1989) and Seaside Attraction (1990).

"The one thing they in common was they all had good two-year-old campaigns," Lukas said. "Open Mind was a champion and Lucky Lucky Lucky was a Grade I winner."

Ex Caelis ran second in two graded stakes last year before ending her season with a fourth-place finish to Lukas stablemate Folklore in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. In the Oaks, she will be one of three starters with only one start in 2006. (The others are Top Notch Lady and Miss Norman.)

"She had a chip in an ankle and we got a little behind with her," Lukas said. "But she's fine. I'm not worried much about the conditioning. I think we are OK."

ITTY BITTY PRETTY - Trainer Paul McGee sent Itty Bitty Pretty to the track Sunday morning for a once-around jog. The Churchill Downs-based McGee has been deputized by California-based trainer Doug O'Neill to oversee the training of the daughter of El Corredor until he arrives in Louisville later this week.

"(Trainer) Ron Ellis is my brother-in-law, so I've met a lot of the California guys. I met Doug a couple of years ago. Actually, he's sent me a couple others to Keeneland in years past," McGee said.

So what is his impression of the O'Neill-trained Santa Ysabel Stakes winner?

"Well, she's itty bitty,'' McGee quipped, "…and pretty."

Itty Bitty Pretty will be ridden by Patrick Valenzuela in the Oaks.

LEMONS FOREVER - Trainer Dallas Stewart reported all was well with Lemons Forever, who walked the shedrow at Barn 35 a day after working five furlongs in 1:00.40, the eighth fastest of 48 at the distance Saturday morning.

Jockey Mark Guidry was aboard for the work and will be in the saddle Friday on Lemons Forever, who is owned by Leon, Willis and Terry Horton and Stewart.

MISS NORMAN - The Artax filly was given the day off Sunday, a day after breezing seven furlongs in 1:29.60 in her final Oaks drill. Jockey Tony Farina flew in from California to ride her in the work.

"She came out of the work great," said owner Greg Norman Sunday morning. "She's feisty this morning, and she ate up everything. She couldn't be doing any better."

Farina's first trip aboard Miss Norman was like the ultimate thrill ride. In the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn on April 14, Miss Norman was 41-1 and running like 4-5, leading most of the way. She turned for home in front, and then bolted right off the television screen. Farina, who was totally surprised, regained control and the filly closed with determination to finish second in the mile and a sixteenth event.

"It certainly was exciting," Norman said, "like having an E ticket to Disneyland. I could think of a lot of things that might happen during a race, but never, ever thought she'd pull something like that."

Blinkers were added to Miss Norman's equipment for that last race, but the owner does not think they caused the problem, and said the filly would be wearing the hood again on Friday.

"We brought Tony in to ride her in the work so he could get better acquainted with her," Norman said. "It will be up to him to control her antics."

Miss Norman was also second in the Matron at Belmont last year at 53-1, but was even-money when she broke her maiden at Del Mar last summer in her lone victory.

Karin Long trains Miss Norman.

PRESS CAMP - Peters Stables LLC, Rancho San Miguel and Matthews Shaver's Press Camp galloped a mile and a half under exercise rider Sylvester Jimenez at Bay Meadows Sunday morning as she began to wind down the California segment of her Oaks preparations.

"She will gallop in the morning and the van is scheduled to be here at 10 a.m. (PDT) to take her to Santa Anita," trainer William E. Morey said.

The Comic Strip filly will spend the night at the Arcadia, Calif., oval before boarding an early Tuesday morning flight to Louisville.

Rafael Bejarano will have the Oaks mount.

QUIET KIM - The daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Real Quiet was out on the track to stretch her legs two days after her final Oaks breeze.

Gerardo Morales, assistant to trainer Bob Hess, said Quiet Kim jogged two miles Sunday morning, and then went to the paddock for a schooling session.

Chris Houchins' filly had her final Oaks drill on Friday when she breezed six furlongs in 1:12.80 under Morales.

Trainer Hess is due in at Churchill Downs either late Monday or early Tuesday. He has yet to name a rider for Quiet Kim, who was second in the Santa Anita Oaks in March and finished sixth in the Fantasy Stakes last out.

RED CHERRIES SPIN - Naveed Chowhan's Red Cherries Spin galloped two miles under exercise rider Lorna Chavez.

Trainer Bernard Flint is looking for a Kentucky Oaks jockey for his filly, that is not nominated to the Oaks and would require a $25,000 fee to be supplemented to the race. She has no earnings in graded stakes or non-restricted stakes and stands last on the list of preference for the 16 fillies still listed as "likely" or "possible" for the 14 available slots in the Kentucky Oaks starting gate.

TOP NOTCH LADY - After being hand-walked Saturday, Top Notch Lady returned to the racetrack Sunday morning for a 1-1/2-mile gallop under exercise rider Jose Castanon.

The daughter of Sultry Song, who will be seeking her fourth straight victory Friday in the Kentucky Oaks, has been a pleasant surprise for trainer Mark Casse.

"I actually didn't think she had a chance of running in Oaks until she won the Bourbonette at Turfway," Casse said. "I wasn't thinking about the Oaks, but she won that race so impressively. She overcame a lot of adversity - she had to race five-wide around the first turn and four- or five-wide around the far turn - and she did it coming off a 4 1/2-month layoff."

Yet, Casse realizes that Top Notch Lady, who will be ridden by Patrick Husbands, could use a little help from her Oaks rivals.

"She's a one-speed horse. She wants to have a fast pace up front," Casse said.

WAIT A WHILE/READY TO PLEASE - Trainer Todd Pletcher had been saying he doubted he'd run the More Than Ready filly Ready To Please in Friday's $500,000 Kentucky Oaks. Sunday morning the doubt went away when the conditioner stated that his Fantasy Stakes winner would wait to race on another day.

"She will not run in the Oaks," Pletcher said at his Barn 34 headquarters.

The trainer had worked Ready To Please four furlongs in 49 flat Saturday morning, looking for any signs that might get him to change his mind about not running owner James Scatuorchio's Kentucky-bred miss in the Grade I headliner. But apparently he didn't find any.

Still, the Pletcher barn will be represented in the Oaks with the good-looking gray filly Wait a While, who races for the Arindel Farm. Wait a While, a double stakes winner who has been stakes-placed on three other occasions, returned to the track Sunday to jog a mile after working five furlongs Saturday in 1:03.40. She will be handled by Garrett Gomez in Friday's nine-furlong feature.

WONDER LADY ANNE L/LAST ROMANCE - The Rick Dutrow Jr.-trained pair galloped Sunday morning, assistant trainer Michelle Nevin said. She was aboard Last Romance, while Wonder Lady Anne L jogged with a pony.

Dutrow is due in shortly to determine if the fillies will have a final breeze before the Oaks.

Last Romance, a daughter of Wild Rush who races for the partnership of Sanford J. Goldfarb, Michael Dubb and Bunch of Characters Stable, won the Wayward Lass Stakes at Aqueduct in her most recent start. No rider has been named yet.

Wonder Lady Anne L, owned by IEAH Stables and Joseph Plumeri, was second last out in the Bonnie Miss at Gulfstream. Edgar Prado has the call in the Oaks.

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