GI Kentucky Oaks

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-BEL, $90k, Msw, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 2:32p.m. ET Havre de Grace (Saint Liam)'s fourth foal to the races will be unveiled in this spot in the form of 3-year-old Saint Tapit (Tapit), a full-sibling to GIII Molly Pitcher S. victress Graceful Princess. From four others to race, including a half-brother by War Front, all are winners. The Whisper Hill Farm homebred has a steady line of works for Todd Pletcher, including most recently a four furlong move in :48.81 over the main track June 19....

Rich Strike (Keen Ice), upset winner of the Gl Kentucky Derby at 80-1, and Secret Oath (Arrogate), the powerful Gl Kentucky Oaks winner, are members of the first crops of their respective sires, both of whom were late-developing Classic-distance horses. Keen Ice and Arrogate each won his first stakes race at Saratoga in late August at three, in the Gl Travers S. at 10 furlongs. Keen Ice won the "Midsummer Classic" in 2015 at 16-1, defeating Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in a shocker. Arrogate won the race the next...

The legend of trainer D. Wayne Lukas got just a little bit longer Friday afternoon. Fully four decades after Stonereath Farms' Blush With Pride (Blushing Groom {Fr}) gave the Hall of Famer a maiden victory in the GI Kentucky Oaks--now sponsored by Longines--and 32 years after Seaside Attraction (Seattle Slew) provided William T. Young's Overbrook Farm with their lone success in the fillies' feature for Lukas's fourth and most recent winner, Briland Farm homebred Secret Oath (Arrogate) was back to her brilliant best beneath the Twin Spires, as she capitalized...

Mike Repole joined this week's TDN Writers' Room ahead of a big weekend for Repole Stable's Mo Donegal and Nest in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks.

Owner Mike Repole purchased a minority interest in GI Kentucky Derby contender and GII Wood Memorial S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), ownership group Donegal Racing announced Friday. The price and ownership stake were not disclosed. Mo Donegal, a $250,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, captured Aqueduct's GII Remsen S. over future GI Toyota Blue Grass winner Zandon (Upstart). Third in the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S. behind White Abarrio (Race Day) and Simplification (Not This Time), he returned to New York Apr. 9 for the Wood Memorial S., rallying...

1st-FG, $65k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:00p.m. ET John Oxley's Catch Magic (Curlin) is unveiled here on the rail for trainer Norm Casse. The eye-catching half to Checkered Past (Smart Strike), MSW & MSP, $334,284 and three other multiple-winners of over $140,000 cost her connections $600,000 after breezing a quick :10 flat at OBSAPR last year. Right to her inside, Juddmonte will send out Patna (Into Mischief), the half-sister to Ducale (Twirling Candy) who is twice a winner and never off the board in five lifetime starts. Rounding out the...

It's a tough spot, going up against Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but as owner Ike Thrash puts it, it's not every day that you get to take on the Eclipse Award-winning champion 2-year-old filly. So Ike and his wife Dawn are eager to make the two-hour trip from their home in Mississippi to Fair Grounds on Saturday to watch their filly Turnerloose (Nyquist) go up against a talented field of sophomore fillies vying for points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks. Thrash is...

Nobody has missed the explosive impact of Not This Time's second crop of sophomores on the Classic trail this year. But the fact remains that it's actually another stallion in his own intake that we find flirting most plausibly with an elusive distinction, with a chance of joining King Alfonso (1885), McGee (1918), Bull Lea (1952) and Native Dancer (1966) in siring the winners of both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks. Okay, so we're getting way ahead of ourselves here. With nearly two months to go, it...

Bob Baffert brings a strong hand into Sunday's local prep for the GI Kentucky Oaks in Santa Anita's GIII Santa Ysabel S. Leading the charge is Eda (Munnings), last out winner of the GI Starlet S. Dec.4 where she defeated fellow Santa Ysabel contender Cairo Memories (Cairo Prince) by a gamhalf-length. She'll be looking for her fourth stakes victory in a row after also decisively winning both the Desi Arnaz S. and the Anoakia S. last fall. Not to be outdone by her stablemate, Under the Stars (Pioneerof the Nile) posted...

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas won the first four runnings of the GIII Honeybee S. starting way back in 1988, and after picking up another trophy in 2007, sits tied with fellow Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen at a record five wins in Oaklawn's penultimate GI Kentucky Oaks prep. Lukas looks well positioned to break that tie with Asmussen as he sends out expected heavy favorite Secret Oath (Arrogate) in Saturday's renewal. Briland Farm homebred Secret Oath was a second-out romper around two turns at Churchill on Halloween before finishing a...

No man an island, huh? Not so sure about that, after the last year or so, when even a family household has sometimes felt like a peninsula at best. So, the very last thing anyone wanted on returning to Saratoga, after being denied its unique balm of fellowship last year, was to hear "the Q word" yet again. A 21-day quarantine for horses stabled in Barn 86, after one of Jorge Abreu's fillies tested positive to EHV-1, must have felt like Groundhog Day for Abreu and neighbor Kenny McPeek. Here...

If anyone sees Conrad Bandoroff on the Churchill Downs backside Friday morning, be sure to check in on him. With the possibility of a Denali-consigned exacta in the GI Kentucky Oaks, the farm's vice president said the flutter of butterflies in his stomach will probably have doubled in size by the dawning of Oaks Day. "During the lead up throughout the week, there's always so much going on that you can kind of keep yourself distracted," he said. "I imagine that Thursday night, that's when it might start to set...