Oaks Updates

Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor's Rags to Riches looms as a heavy favorite for the 133rd running of the $500,000-added Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) at Churchill Downs on May 4, but her presence does not appear to be scaring many opponents away from the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies.

Churchill Downs' Racing Secretary Ben Huffman listed fifteen fillies as "likely" for the Oaks on Friday, April 20 (likely starters in bold type). The race is limited to 14 starters and, like the Kentucky Derby (GI), preference is given to horses based on earnings in graded stakes races.

Three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher trains the top three earners among those Oaks contenders in Ashland (GI) runner-up Octave, Florida Oaks winner Cotton Blossom and Rags to Riches, winner of the Las Virgenes (GI) and Santa Anita Oaks (GI).

Rank  HORSE         TRAINER                 OWNER                           EARNINGS
1 Octave                Todd Pletcher          Starlight & Lucarelli                 $737,500
2 Cotton Blossom   Todd Pletcher          Dogwood Stable                      $386,780
3 Rags To Riches    Todd Pletcher         Smith & Tabor                         $330,000
4 Mistical Plan        Doug O'Neill           J. Paul Reddam                       $289,929
5 Cash Included      Craig Dollase          J. Paul Reddam                       $276,000
6 Boca Grande        Shug McGaughey   Phipps Stable                          $210,000
7 High Heels           Gary Hartlage          Anita Ebert                             $175,561
8 Street Sounds      Michael Matz           Hidden Creek Farm                $155,000
9 High Again           Bill Mott                  Zayat Stables, LLC                 $145,000
10 Baroness Thatcher Patrick Biancone  Zayat Stables, LLC                 $141,563
11 Sealy Hill           Mark Casse              Melnyk Racing                      $93,000
12 Dawn After Dawn Wes Hawley            Dawn & Ike Thrash                $74,000
13 Silver Knockers    Nick Zito                 Elk Manor Farm                    $30,000
14 Panty Raid          Todd Pletcher          Glencrest Farm, LLC             $30,000
15 Swift Temper        Bobby Barnett         Mark Stanley                       $21,500
16 Perfect Forest      Todd Pletcher          Edward Evans                      $15,000
17 Grace Happens    D. Wayne Lukas      Briland Farm                       $12,000
18 Time's Mistress    D. Wayne Lukas      Charles Kidder                     $9,746
19 Autobahn Girl        Nick Zito                 Live Oak Plantation                   $0
20 Tough Tiz's Sis     Bob Baffert              Watson & Weitsman                 $0
21 Moonee Ponds     Tom Proctor              V. Cox, J. Starr & T.Turney      $0

KENTUCKY OAKS NOTES: J. Paul Reddam's Fair Grounds Oaks (GII) winner Mistical Plan breezed four furlongs in :47.80 over Polytrack at Keeneland on Friday for trainer Doug O'Neill...Grace Happens, trained by four-time Kentucky Oaks winner D. Wayne Lukas, breezed four furlongs over a "fast" track in :48.60 on Friday at Churchill Downs...Trainer Shug McGaughey said that Comely (GIII) winner Boca Grande was unlikely for a run in the Kentucky Oaks - although he did not completely rule out the possibility in comments to the Daily Racing Form. "She would have to really bounce out of this race big time and show a lot of improvement," said McGaughey. "I'm not inclined to go down there [to Churchill] and run her in a big field. I don't know whether mentally she's prepared for that."

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