Oaks News

The Grade Two Fantasy Stakes drew Tuesday with a field of eight 3-year-old distaffers, with shippers coming from all over the country to take on the locals.  Two of the more accomplished fillies, Cash Included and Cotton Blossom, figure to vie for favoritism in Friday’s feature, which kicks off Oaklawn’s Racing Festival of the South.

Cash Included comes from southern California for trainer Craig Dollase.  The daughter of Include won the Oak Leaf (GI) at Santa Anita last autumn before running a troubled fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI).  She’ll be making her third start after a brief layoff, and after being beaten both times by prohibitive Kentucky Oaks favorite Rags to Riches, she should find this field a bit less testing.  She does, however get a new rider in Alex Solis, who replaces Corey Nakatani.

Cotton Blossom would be a first string filly in nearly every other barn, but with trainer Todd Pletcher also having the aforementioned Rags to Riches as well as Octave, who is likely to run in Keeneland’s Ashland (GI) Saturday, Cotton Blossom has been somewhat overlooked this year.  The Florida-based filly will get plenty of respect here, though, with a solid record of five in the money finishes in six starts, including a very good third in the Breeders’ Cup.  She had a few months off after that race, returning with a win in the Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs last month.  Regular rider John Velazquez will be aboard.

The local contingent is headed by Devil House, winner of five in a row prior to throwing in a clunker in the Honeybee here last month.  Her trainer Terry Gestes hopes to have things righted for the daughter Chester House, but the speedy filly drew the far outside, meaning that jockey Terry Thompson will likely have to hustle her a bit to get to the lead.  With a few other front-running types in here, that could compromise her chances.

Time’s Mistress was the upset winner of the Honeybee, taking the race with a commanding 4-¾ length margin of victory for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.  Time’s Mistress had been beaten by Devil House in their previous two meetings at this meet, but the added distance seemed to be what Lukas’ charge needed as she powered home an easy winner. 

Another that figures to draw some attention at the windows is High Heels, second in the Honeybee.  Her connections thought enough of her to nominate her to the Triple Crown. 

The locally based filly impressively won an allowance race early in the meet here, then shipped to Fair Grounds and ran an uninspired fifth in the Silverbulletday.

Recent allowance winners Swift Temper, Jay’s Princess and Tensas Yucatan, round out the field.

The complete field for the 2007 Fantasy Stakes, in post position, with riders:

1. High Heels (Joe Johnson)
2. Cotton Blossom (John Velazquez)
3. Cash Included (Alex Solis)
4. Time's Mistress (John Jacinto)
5. Swift Temper (Calvin Borel)
6. Jay's Princess (Larry Sterling)
7. Tensas Yucatan (Jesse Campbell)
8. Devil House (Terry Thompson)

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