Oaks News

High Heels, bred and owned by Anita Ebert, and trained by Gary "(Red Dog" Hartlage, blew past Cotton Blossom, the 1-2 favorite, in mid-stretch, and drew clear for a stunning six and three-quarter-length victory in the $250,000 Fantasy Stakes before a crowd of 12,201 Friday afternoon at Oaklawn Park.

The Fantasy, at a mile-and-a-sixteenth for three-year-old fillies, kicked off Oaklawn’s famed eight-day Racing Festival of the South, the most prestigious week of racing in North America.

Cotton Blossom, trained by three-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher for Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stable, raced third behind dueling leaders Devil House and Jay’s Princess through :22 2/5 and :46 1/5, for a half mile under two-time Eclipse winner John Velazquez.

Cotton Blossom blew past the leaders with a three-wide move at the quarter-pole, but was quickly joined from the outside by High Heels, the 9-1 fourth choice under Joe Johnson. . Those two battled on even terms until the eighth pole, at which point High Heels took command, and won off decisively under a hand ride.

California shipper Cash Included ran evenly for third under Alex Solis, a length and three-quarters behind Cotton Blossom, who was favored on the basis of two stakes victories, and a closing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November at Churchill Downs.

The victory was the third – and first stakes – in ten starts for High Heels, a lovely bay daughter of E Dubai, out of the Gilded Time mare Ornate. As a two-year-old, she placed in the Golden Rod at Churchill Downs, and the Fisher Debutante at Ellis Park. High Heels was clocked in 1:44 2/5 over a fast strip, and paid $21.

The winner, the lone Triple Crown nominee in the eight-filly field, is now 3-2-3 from ten starts, and the $150,000 first prize more than doubled her bankroll to $276,648. Johnson has ridden her in all of her ten starts. 

Courtesy - Oaklawn Park 

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