Oaks News

            Boca Grande makes her highly anticipated 3-year-old debut in Saturday's $150,000 Forward Gal (GII) at Gulfstream Park.  She will meet six opponents in the seven furlong test.

            Boca Grande stamped herself as a leader of the division with an awesome win in the Demoiselle (GII) at Aqueduct last November.  That race was her stakes debut and first start outside of maiden competition.  She responded with a powerful 3 ¾-length victory over Get Ready Bertie, who will start as one of the leading contenders in this weekend's Fair Grounds Oaks (GII).

            Owned by the Phipps Stables and trained by Claude "Shug" McGaughey, Boca Grande sports two wins from three starts.  Her pedigree is equally impressive as she is by the classic sire A.P. Indy and out of the Grade 2 winning mare Country Hideaway who also was Grade 1 placed.

            In the Forward Gal, Boca Grande will meet Nick Zito's highly regarded Silver Knockers.  She sports an undefeated record after two impressive wins over the Gulfstream Park strip.  She has prepped for her stakes debut with two bullet workouts at Palm Meadows and has the riding services of regular rider Joe Bravo.

            Another contender boasting a perfect 2-for-2 record is Forever Together, a Jonathan Sheppard trained miss coming off a victory over restricted stakes company in the OBS Sprint.  She remains relatively untested and takes a big class hike in today's event.

            You Asked should also attract a fair amount of wagering support after he strong second place finish in the Old Hat (GIII) last time out.  She finished 3 ½-lengths behind Dream Rush in that race but found herself 3 ¼-lengths ahead of Eclipse Award winning filly Dreaming of Anna.  The Yes It's True filly has two wins and two seconds from four lifetime starts.

            Awsugahnow, Bold Assurance, and Changeisgonnacome round out the field for the Forward Gal.  The race is scheduled as the seventh on the card.

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