Kentucky Oaks

Early nominations for the May 6 GI Longines Kentucky Oaks are due by Saturday. Early nominations to the Kentucky Oaks cost $200. Fillies that are not nominated during the early phase may nominate from Feb. 20-April 16 with a $1,500 payment. A supplementary nomination of $25,000 may be made at the time of entry. Last year, 105 fillies were nominated during the early phase to the Oaks with five late nominations. In recent years, nominations to the $1-million GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic ran concurrently with the Oaks. This...

While several of the sport's best 3-year-old fillies have still yet to race this year, there were plenty of developments since we last checked in with our top 10 for the GI Kentucky Oaks. The biggest story came Sunday out of California, where Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) demolished the competition in the GIII Las Virgenes. A day earlier, Girl With a Dream (Practical Joke) won the GIII Forward Gal S. at seven furlongs at Gulfstream, upsetting 3-5 favorite Radio Days (Gun Runner). The runner-up appeared to be a serious Oaks...

Adare Manor dominated the four-horse GIII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita Sunday, strolling home to an effortless 13-length victory and giving trainer Bob Baffert his sixth win in the race. Second and fourth in two sprint tries to kick off her career, the $375,000 OBS June acquisition put it all together and then some when airing by a dozen lengths over this track and trip Jan. 7, good for a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. Her odds dropped even further with the scratch of GISW stablemate Eda (Munnings), and the...

Bob Baffert testified for about 3 1/2 hours in Thursday's hearing to determine whether the New York Racing Association (NYRA) can exclude the trainer over alleged "detrimental conduct." Much of the testimony consisted of exchanges between the Hall of Fame trainer and NYRA attorney Hank Greenberg, whose attempts to rattle Baffert were largely unsuccessful. The Hall of Famer stuck to what has been the narrative from his team since the issues of his repeated medication violations first arose--that each offense involved mitigating circumstances that explain why he wasn't deserving of...

Most of the heavyweights when it comes to the leading contenders for the GI Kentucky Oaks have yet to surface in 2022, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been any activity. Kathleen O. (Upstart) looked like a filly with unlimited potential when winning the Jan. 1 Cash Run S. at Gulfstream for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and fellow Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen looks to have another top prospect in La Crete (Medaglia d'Oro). A half-sister to Grade I winner Clairiere (Curlin), she won last Saturday's Silverbulletday...

The Kentucky Race Track Chaplaincy's 20th annual Race For Grace, a dinner event raising financial support for the chaplaincy, will be held May 2 on Millionaires' Row in the clubhouse at historic Churchill Downs, five days before the running of the GI Kentucky Derby. Hall of Fame Jockey and Derby winner Pat Day, who has been the President of the Kentucky Race Track Chaplaincy the past six years, will be the Master of Ceremonies. The keynote speaker will be nationally-recognized Pastor Bob Russell. At the age of 22, Bob became...

The sport is not supposed to be that easy, even if some people make it look that way sometimes. Pat Kearney is 83, admits he doesn't know much about racing, has a fairly modest budget and had never owned a horse when he showed up last year at the OBS April 2-year-old sale. Fast forward some eight months later and Kearney is the owner of Kathleen O. (Upstart), one of the more promising 3-year-old fillies in racing right now. Making her second career start Saturday at Gulfstream, Kathleen O. won...

On this day 12 months ago, Robertino Diodoro saddled Cypress Creek Equine and partners' Keepmeinmind (Laoban) to a popular maiden-breaking victory in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. en route to a trip down the Triple Crown trail. Saturday afternoon beneath the Twin Spires, the same connections' Dream Lith (Medaglia d'Oro) officially served notice that she is on a GI Longines  Kentucky Oaks trajectory, overcoming a tricky trip to post a narrow success in the GII Golden Rod S. When favored Rags To Riches S. winner Sandstone (Street Sense) failed...

Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil--Expo Gold, by Johannesburg) didn't turn a single hair for the entirety of the five minutes and change that she stood in the ring at Fasig-Tipton November Tuesday evening, and when the dust had settled, the chestnut filly had sold for $4.7 million to the bid of Northern Farm's Shingo Hashimoto. It took just a bit more than the 1:53 required for Swiss Skydiver to win last year's COVID-delayed GI Preakness S. for the bidding to wander into the $3-million territory, with interested parties both inside...

DEL MAR, CA - With trainer Peter Miller looking on--and sporting a hoodie from his two-win performance at the 2018 Championships at Churchill Downs--streaking GI Breeders' Cup Mile contender Mo Forza (Uncle Mo) took a stroll through the Del Mar paddock on a brisk and cloudy Wednesday morning just before 7 a.m. Del Mar President and General Manager Joe Harper made his way to the well-attended WinStar and Fasig-Tipton Trackside Breakfast Marquee as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies co-second choice Juju's Map (Liam's Map) galloped strongly with her neck arched....

Multiple Grade I winner and last year's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) will be offered this fall at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Hunter Valley Farm will consign the 4-year-old filly on behalf of owners Qatar Racing Limited, Flurry Racing Stables LLC, and Big Aut Farms. A graded stakes performer each year from two to four, Shedaresthedevil is a three-time Grade I winner and seven-time graded stakes winner of $2,291,458. Last year at three, she defeated the best of her generation to win the 146th Kentucky Oaks in the...

The official "Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve," will begin Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs with the GIII Iroquois S., has been unveiled with a new proviso that horses under the care of suspended trainers will not be awarded points in the Derby prep races. Effective Sept. 30, points from any race in the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" will not be awarded to any horse trained by any individual who is suspended from racing in the 2022 Kentucky Derby or any trainer directly or indirectly employed,...