Oaks Updates

RECORD 192 FILLIES NOMINATED TO 133rd KENTUCKY OAKS - Las Virgenes (Grade I) winner Rags to Riches and reigning juvenile filly champion Dreaming of Anna head a record list of 3-year-old fillies nominated to compete in the 133rd running of the $500,000-added Kentucky Oaks (GI) at Churchill Downs on Friday, May 4.

This year's Kentucky Oaks nomination total exceeds the record of 191 set in 1986 and matched the following year. It also reflects a significant jump from last year's total of 160 Kentucky Oaks nominees.

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher nominated 14 fillies to the Kentucky Oaks, including Rags to Riches. His group of nominees also includes Octave and Cotton Blossom, the 2-3 finishers behind Dreaming of Anna in last fall's $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) at Churchill Downs.
Other nominees include Grade I winners Appealing Zophie, Sutra and Cash Included.

Supplemental nominations will be accepted to the Kentucky Oaks. Those nominations must be made at the time of entry on Tuesday, May 1, and accompanied by a payment of $25,000, or five percent of the purse. The Kentucky Oaks is limited to 14 starters with preference to fillies with the highest earnings in graded stakes races.

SOUTHEAST/CHAMP DREAMING OF ANNA BACK ON THE GRASS - Frank Calabrese's homebred Dreaming of Anna will attempt to rebound from the first loss of her career when she faces eight rivals in Sunday's $100,000 Gaily Gaily Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The Wayne Catalano-trained juvenile filly champion drew post five in the 1 1/16-mile race and returns to the turf for the first time since she dominated males in last fall's Summer Stakes (GIII) at Woodbine. The daughter of Rahy is unbeaten in two starts on the grass.

Regular jockey Rene Douglas will ride Dreaming of Anna in the Gaily Gaily.

CENTRAL/TURFWAY'S VALDALE ATTRACTS A DOZEN - Dick Colvin and William Gould's Miss A. Bomb, the longshot winner of the Gowell Stakes in December and runner-up last month in the Cincinnati Trophy Stakes, will look to rally late in a speed-heavy field of 12 3-year-old fillies entered in Saturday's $50,000 Valdale Stakes at Turfway Park.

Orlando Mojica will ride the 5-2 favorite for trainer Grant Hofmans.

Other contenders include Bavarian Belle (7-2), an allowance winner two starts back at the Fair Grounds for trainer Rebecca Maker; Our Dancing Babe (6-1), a winner of two straight races at Turfway; and She's Impossible (6-1), third in the Cincinnati Trophy last time out.

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