A Kentucky Oaks with nine starters implies that several owners are ducking the race. In the case of Friday's classic at Churchill Downs, two good reasons exist for exercising caution.
Gamine was made the even-money favorite and drew post five before arriving in Louisville Monday with others of trainer Bob Baffert's horses. Although she has never trailed in four starts, distance could be a sticking point for the daughter of hot sire Into Mischief, a Grade 1 winner at one mile but here stretching to nine furlongs. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who seldom rides for Baffert, is named on Gamine and one of the trainer's two Kentucky Derby starters, Authentic.
"Being in the middle is always good," said Baffert. "Right now the most important thing is that she ships well, that she relaxes, gets in there and breaks well. She's training really well. We still have a few more hurdles (but) I'm happy with that spot."
Swiss Skydiver, the 8-5 second choice, is the leading qualifier for the Oaks in points earned in a series of prep races. The daughter of Daredevil is well traveled and proven at the distance, winning the Grade 1 Alabama in New York at 10 furlongs and the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park going 1 1/16 miles. She won the Alabama after a second to Kentucky Derby contender Art Collector in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland.
Trainer Ken McPeek had no apparent misgivings with Swiss Skydiver drawing the rail post. "It's the shortest trip around there," he said. "I'd rather have the one than the nine. It's out of my hands. We'll just let Tyler (Gaffalione) do his thing. He's a great jock. We'll probably just let her run into the first turn."
Gamine defeated Oaks entrant Speech in a May 2 Oaklawn allowance race, but the Baffert trainee was disqualified after flunking a drug test. Speech then shipped west for a second in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks before taking the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, the latter in absence of Swiss Skydiver.
Speech is 5-1 on the morning line from post four. "We have speed just outside of us and on the inside, obviously, so I guess we know what our plan is now," trainer Mike McCarthy said. "I've been here with Todd (Pletcher) with horses like Ashado and Rags to Riches, but to be here with a horse of my own is special."
An especially arduous road to the Kentucky Oaks for trainer Brad Cox could end with a second Oaks victory in three years for the Louisville native. Shedaresthedevil, who like Swiss Skydiver is sired by Daredevil, has won two Grade 3 stakes and faced many of the Oaks contenders with the exception of Gamine. A group including Staton Flurry of Hot Springs bought into Qatar Racing's original ownership and transferred Shedaresthedevil to Cox at Oaklawn, where in her second local start she won the Honeybee Stakes.
Cox won the Oaks in 2018 with Monomoy's Girl, who went on to the 3-year-old filly championship, and entered 2020 with the early Oaks favorite in juvenile filly champion British Idiom, an undefeated multiple Grade 1 winner. The trainer won an early-season Oaklawn stake with the ill-fated filly Taraz, who suffered a fatal breakdown in a subsequent workout, and watched British Idiom and Bonny South go off form. Bonny South, an Oaklawn winner against Shedaresthedevil before taking the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, was considered likely for Friday's race until the weekend
Drawing post seven in the Oaks with Shedaresthedevil, 20-1 on the board, Cox said, "Everything is great. Nothing more we can do now." Florent Geroux has the raceday mount.
Also in the race are Tempers Rising, Donna Veloce, Bayerness, Hopeful Growth and Dream Marie. Donna Veloce represents Simon Callaghan, former trainer of Shedaresthedevil, and has Oaklawn riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr. named aboard.
The Oaks goes off at 4:45 p.m. Friday on NBC Sports Network. The front-running Serengeti Empress won the Oaks last year for trainer Tom Amoss. The last Oaklawn-raced filly to win the race is Blind Luck in 2010, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer.
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Nine enter Oaks; Gamine (1-1) favored - Hot Springs Sentinel
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