Oaks Updates

Pletcher was asked about the possibility of a wet track for the $500,000, nine-furlong Oaks and how it might affect his horses.

"They all seemed to handle it well this morning - in fact, really well," the three-time Eclipse Award winner said.

AUTOBAHN GIRL - Live Oak Plantation's Autobahn Girl galloped a mile and a half Thursday morning at Churchill Downs in preparation for Friday's Kentucky Oaks (GI).

"She handled the track beautifully," said Heather Stark, exercise rider and assistant to trainer Nick Zito.

Autobahn Girl will be making her graded-stakes debut under jockey Eddie Castro.

CASH INCLUDED - The Oak Leaf Stakes (GI) winner galloped a mile over the Churchill Downs track to the satisfaction of exercise rider E.J. Bowler.

"She handled the track great," Bowler said. "I don't know that she'd ever been on a sloppy track before, but it didn't bother her at all."

Trainer Wally Dollase, who has been deputized by his son, Craig, to train Cash Included for the Kentucky Oaks (GI), has been pleased with how she's settled in at Churchill Downs.

"She's got a great mind, a really great mind," Dollase said.

Corey Nakatani will ride Cash Included in the Oaks.

COTTON BLOSSOM/OCTAVE/RAGS TO RICHES - Trainer Todd Pletcher had his Oaks trio out on the sloppy Churchill Downs strip Thursday morning, sending race favorite Rags to Riches and her gray stablemate Octave trackside with his 7 a.m. set, then having the tall and dark dandy Cotton Blossom go for her exercise right after the renovation break at 8:30.

All three of the fillies went a mile and three-eighths in their gallops with their regular exercise riders at the controls - Loren Robson on "Rags," Pierre Goday on Octave and Valerie Buck steering "Cotton."

Friday, the trio will be handled by three of the nation's best jockeys - Garrett Gomez ("Rags"), John Velazquez (Octave) and Edgar Prado ("Cotton").

Pletcher was asked about the possibility of a wet track for the $500,000, nine-furlong Oaks and how it might affect his horses.

"They all seemed to handle it well this morning - in fact, really well," the three-time Eclipse Award winner said. "But, realistically, an ‘off' track here would have to be an ‘X' factor for us. We just don't have much experience on it. Handling it in gallops in the morning is one thing; having to handle it in the afternoon with a full field of horses and racing conditions is a whole different thing."

Rags to Riches will come out of the No. 11 post in the 14-horse field and she's listed at 5-2 in the morning line. Octave will start from the No. 4 at 6-1 on the line. And Cotton Blossom will begin at post No. 5 with a morning line tag of 8-1.

DAWN AFTER DAWN - Trainer Wesley Hawley sent out Ike and Dawn Thrash's 3-year-old filly Dawn After Dawn to gallop a mile and a quarter over the sloppy track at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning. Exercise rider Bill Wilson was aboard.

Amazingly, Wilson had suffered a stroke while galloping a horse on Aug. 7, 2005, but recovered completely and feels especially lucky to be associated with a filly running in the Kentucky Oaks.

Both Hawley and Wilson agree that Dawn After Dawn is coming into the race superbly and will not be concerned should the track come up sloppy Friday.

"She galloped fantastic this morning," said Hawley. "The distance, the slop, nothing should bother her."

Like many of the fillies in the Oaks, Dawn After Dawn will be making her first start going a mile and an eighth on Friday.

Most recently, the Florida-bred finished third in the Ashland at Keeneland and was "gaining late."

DREAMING OF ANNA - It was an easy morning for the reigning Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) winner as she had a light jog before the renovation break. Trainer Wayne Catalano has been personally galloping and jogging his stable star this week as she readies for her Oaks assignment.

Regular rider Rene Douglas has the call on the 2006 Eclipse Award winner as champion 2-year-old filly. The likely Oaks pacesetter breaks from post 7 of 14. When asked where he envisioned Dreaming of Anna, pace-wise, in the Oaks, Catalano replied, "She wants to be right up there. Let her go."

Dreaming of Anna will try to join Silverbulletday as the only fillies to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Kentucky Oaks.

GRACE HAPPENS - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas' longshot Oaks hopeful jogged a mile Thursday morning before the renovation break in preparation for Friday's headliner. The stable reports all is well with the Honeybee Stakes third-place finisher, who will be seeking her first career stakes win.

The daughter of 2000 Kentucky Derby runner-up Aptitude breaks from post 6 in the Oaks and will be reunited with jockey Willie Martinez, who guided her to her lone career win last Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.

HIGH AGAIN - The Bonnie Miss (GII) winner galloped 1 ¼ miles Thursday morning and walked through the paddock for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott, who seeks his first Kentucky Oaks victory on Friday. As far as her affinity for a potential off track, Mott said, "She likes the off track. She gets over it pretty well."

Mott said that he was undecided on whether High Again would hit the track Friday morning for a leg stretcher prior to the Oaks.

"We'll see how the track is as to whether we'll go out tomorrow or not," he said.

Cornelio Velasquez will have the mount on High Again in the Oaks and is saddled with the burden of breaking from the far outside post 14.

HIGH HEELS - Fantasy Stakes (GII) winner High Heels visited the paddock for a third straight morning and then galloped a mile and a half under exercise rider Jimmy Connolly before the renovation break Thursday morning.

"She has been fine over there in the morning," trainer Gary Hartlage said when asked if he was satisfied with the schooling sessions. "But in the afternoon, she is going to do what she wants to do."

Owned by Anita Ebert, High Heels has made four of her 10 career starts at Churchill Downs with a maiden victory and three third-place finishes. Joe Johnson has been aboard for all 10 of her starts and has the riding assignment again Friday.

For Hartlage, Johnson holds the key to the race for High Heels.

"It's up to Joe to read the pace," Hartlage said. "If they go in 46 (seconds for the first half-mile), he should be well back, but if they are going in 49, he'd better be within two or three lengths. But I expect a lot of pace."

MISTICAL PLAN - "Mistical Plan just had a nice, easy day today," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "She half-jogged and half-galloped about a mile and a quarter. It was kinda building up the tank for a big race tomorrow."

David Flores will ride Mistical Plan, a California-bred daughter of Game Plan, who will break from post 13 in the field of 14. The filly is 12-1 in the morning line.

The filly's owner, J. Paul Reddam, and his wife, Zillah, arrived from California on Wednesday and were at the track Thursday to watch their horses train. O'Neill trains Reddam's two Kentucky Derby colts Great Hunter and Liquidity. Reddam also owns Oaks starter Cash Included, who is trained by Craig Dollase.

SEALY HILL - The Melnyk Racing Stables' Sealy Hill completed her preparations for Friday's Kentucky Oaks by galloping a mile and a half before the renovation break with Julia Brimo in the saddle. Trainer Mark Casse said Sealy Hill would walk in the morning.

Casse was back on the scene for the first time since the filly's work Saturday, a 1:01.20 move for five furlongs.

"After a breeze, she tends to get stronger every day and I was looking for that eagerness and I saw that today," Casse said of what he was looking for. "That's what I wanted to see and Julia says she has been getting better every day."

Patrick Husbands will ride Sealy Hill in the Oaks, a race he rode in last year for Casse aboard Top Notch Lady, who finished eighth behind Lemons Forever.

"These two horses are not in the same league; I've been saying that for a long time," Casse said. "This filly is much better, but she has questions to answer. It's her first time at a mile and an eighth and only the second time going two turns. Also, how is she going to handle the dirt with most of her races on Polytrack. If I said it was not a concern, I'd be lying."

Sealy Hill will break from post position 12, a good spot according to Casse.

"She likes to run around horses rather than be inside," Casse said. "She has enough gas to get to where she needs to be without losing a lot of ground. With her tactical speed, if there is an opening, Patrick can place her where he wants to."

SWIFT TEMPER - Trainer Bobby Barnett put Swift Temper through her final paces for Friday's Kentucky Oaks, sending out the Mark Stanley-owned filly for a trip through the paddock and a mile and five-eighths gallop with exercise rider Mario Covento up.

"That's it. She will walk in the morning and get a bath," Barnett said.

Julien Leparoux, who rode Swift Temper in her racing debut last August at Arlington Park, will handle the reins Friday.

Barnett was asked how he would like to see the race unfold for Swift Temper.

"I'd like to see to her five or six lengths off the pace," Barnett said. "We have a decent post (eight), so she should be able to save ground. If it stays muddy, she will like that. When it rains, it usually stays good down on the inside where it gets packed down."

TOUGH TIZ'S SIS - Trainer Bob Baffert was trackside for the first time Thursday morning to watch his Oaks filly - the husky bay Tough Tiz's Sis - gallop a mile and an eighth under exercise rider Sarah Cillie shortly after the 8 a.m. renovation break on the sloppy strip at Churchill.

Baffert and his brother Bill were in the viewing stand next to the 5½-furlong gap - sometimes referred to as the "Baffert Gap" because it is just down the pathway from the barn of the three-time Derby and one-time Oaks winner - along with the owners of the filly, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, a couple of Tucson guys who connect well with the Baffert Boys given their extended Tucson roots through the University of Arizona.

And where the Baffert Boys go, there is always banter and laughing. Lots of folks root for them to have a "big" horse at Churchill each spring so they can come and spread the yuks. They were doing so under cover on the observation stand next to the gap as the raindrops splashed and their filly tested an off track for the first time.

"If she wins Friday," Bob Baffert announced to all with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, "you can say she loved the mud. If she doesn't, it's the chewed up racetrack here that cost her."

The patter continued on and the crowd loved it. Baffert does have his way of spreading joy, making the serious game of racing seem lighter and easier. He also was escorting a lady and her young daughter "for a morning on the backside with Bob Baffert," which she had won at a school fund raiser in Lexington, Ky.

"It's tiring for me, though," said brother Bill, clutching a coffee cup and trying to rally after a long night on the town. "This training horses stuff is hard work. I might have to go home and sleep."

Victor Espinoza is scheduled to handle Tough Tiz's Sis Friday in the Oaks. She drew the No. 9 post and is listed on the morning line at 10-1. It's even money the Bafferts will have their rider laughing in the paddock prior to giving him a leg up.

<< Back to News