Preview – Grade 1 Bluegrass Oaks
It’s a historic week in the sim. For the first time ever, the Grade 1 Bluegrass Oaks is a marquee event in its own right, headlining the racecard in Kentucky on the first Friday in May. To help celebrate this first ever week of simulated graded events on a Friday, we have 20 fabulous fillies running for the blanket of lilies, the winner’s share of the million-dollar purse, and the title of Oaks Champion.
The stakes record is now just a year old. Set by Secret Shuffler in 2012, the mark of 1:47.2 for this 9-furlong race will be a challenge for these fillies to overcome, but is far from insurmountable. A first-place speed figure greater than 111.16 will earn the coveted title of fastest of Oaks winner ever.
Let’s look at the field:
On the rail is Mambo Down. She’s a beautiful chestnut filly by Big Brown out of the Kingmambo mare Godly. Mambo Down is a versatile filly with a graded win at 9 furlongs on both turf and dirt, and a graded placing at 10 on grass. She can handle the distance and the surface with no concerns. A small question is her ability to handle the class. Her sole trip in G1 company was the Breeders Bowl though in the Filly Juvy Turf instead of the Juvenile Filly. Despite the opposite surface, she still finished a disappointing last. It may be attributable to the shorter mile distance, and fans of this filly will certainly hope so. Mambo ran a lifetime-high speed of 99 in her Oaks prep in early March, and looks to be rounding into form – the question is: is she ready for this very big test? She’ll be looking to steal this race from the lead, and will be a fun one to watch both Friday and over the next few months. Trainer Kroth (aka Selurnivek) has a really nice filly in his barns with a bright future indeed.
Post two features Miniminus. Trained by Sixesplus, the scratchbred Dansili filly was a well-deserved 2012 Eclipse nominee. Winning the Breeders Bowl Juvenile Filly will do that for you. She struggled a bit in her 2013 debut, finishing midpack in February’s Los Vinegrette Stakes. However, when gaining a bit more ground and facing open competition in the Buccaneer Derby in mid-March was back in good form and put up a strong second to Hunting Blind who is running in the Bluegrass Derby on Saturday. The 105 speed figure she earned was her best yet. Miniminus looks to be back in shape and while she’s yet to run this distance, there is absolutely no question that when her best effort is demanded, she is capable of pulling out her A-game.
It just would not be a premium sim graded race without a “Barb” entrant. Luckily the Oaks will not have to suffer that fate is year, as 5Heffsbarn (aka Jakematt) enters Barbstone. She’s a daughter of Birdstone out of the Grade 2-winning Smart Strike mare Barb’s Prestige. Four listed wins, a Grade 3 sprinting win as a juvenile, and a solid victory in the Grade 1 Vermont is for Lovers at 8.5 furlongs in February highlight the chestnut’s past performances. She’s earned a 91% ITM strike rate for better than $600k in earnings. Class capability is in zero doubt. Distance is going to be a bit of a stretch, but Barbstone does have two starts at a mile and a sixteenth under her girth and the extra yards should not prove overly taxing.
Super of course is also practically required to enter at least one filly in the Oaks each year, and the talented trio behind Super has an interesting candidate for the lilies in this go-round. Grand Concourse is by Street Cry out of the graded-placed Giant’s Causeway mare Grand Causeway. As a juvenile Grand Concourse scored a strong win in the Grade 2 Sell The Queen. It was a record-setting performance at 9 panels. The bay filly was also second to Miniminus in the Breeders Bowl. She’s winless in two starts this year, but she can handle the class and the distance. If she’s back in form, she’ll be dangerous. Question marks for sure, but a legitimate candidate from a consortium of trainers that bring amazing runners to the Bluegrass year after year.
Wearing saddlecloth five is Prove Em Wrong. Trainer Phantom2 will be looking to prove that it’s possible to win the Oaks in back-to-back years. He trained last year’s victor Secret Shuffler under the banner of Magpies2. Prove Em Wrong has been brought along pretty conservatively for all that she’s a five-time winner. All wins have been around two turns which is an excellent omen for this scratchbred Tiznow filly, and two came in listed stakes, with the most prestigious victory of all in the Grade 2 Louisana Oaks. Prove Em Wrong set a stakes record in Louisiana, and followed that effort up with a healthy third by a half-length in the Fantasia. While this will be her first Grade 1 effort, and her first go over 9 panels, the measured way that Phantom has brought the filly along to each new test, and the confident and competent manner in which she has met each new test, should serve her well.
Who says a prize horse can’t be a real prize? Trainer Spinecho (aka Kurgan) is a frequent participant in Kyogle’s Tip A Horse Win a Horse contest on the game message board. Back in June 2012 Spinecho came up the weekly winner and won himself two fabulous prize horses, Kwin Tiz and Kwin Quality. The latter is now, as they say, under new management, but the former, ah, she is a star. The bay filly by Tizway has two wins and a second from her last three starts, all in graded company. The first of that nice little streak was in the Santa Jezebel where Kwin Tiz set a new stake record. Both of those wins were n 8.5f runs, and the second was at a mile, so I’m looking forward to what the filly does with a little extra room to run. Spinecho notes that his pals at in the chatroom have been instrumental in helping him get the filly to this race by offering advice from their own prior and current Derby and Oaks campaigns.
From the land of the GR Simsters comes the seven horse, Great Disturbance. Trained by Peeps3 and ridden by jockey-owner B Peeples (how cool is it to have your namesake jockey riding your Oaks entry?), the filly presents an interesting challenge to handicappers. As a youngster the Empire Maker filly took four tries to break her maiden, but when she was presented with a mile she did it wire to wire. Peeps is a guy who does not hesitate to push his horses, and this one responded well with an oh-so-close loss by a mere head in the Grade 1 Darley. Not bad for a filly still eligible for nonwinners of 2. She followed it up with a pair of decent but unspectacular finishes to close out 2012. Peeps regrouped and went back to the drawing board, running through a couple of conditions in allowance company before stepping back up to the big time in the Mellow Breeze last out. She was good enough for fourth but hit triple digits on the speed meter for the first time, and Peeps has to be thinking that Great Disturbance is ready to show how Great she can be.
Supapogs6 (aka Pogook) has taken a bit of the opposite approach with his entrant, A State Of Mind. After her unsuccessful Breeders Bowl Juvenile Filly attempt, the scratchbred Tapit filly backed down to listed company (finished third), then dropped down to allowance company with a 2x condition (another third place), and last out was all the way back to facing nonwinners of 3 lifetime. This time around she found her running ways again and won by better than two lengths. Was it the class drop? Maybe. Was it the distance? Possibly – she seems to appreciate the 9-95 furlongs age. Pogook is a smart sim trainer with quite a bit of success behind him – if anyone can turn this unconventional prep style into a victory, it’s him. Back to back high-90s speed figures leading up to the Oaks is a good omen for this filly’s excellent, forgive the pun, State of Mind.
Everyone’s favourite Australian Davarto enters the number nine filly, Allthesweetthings. The Candy Ride filly is out of the stakes-placed Kingmambo mare Storm Q. Is his choice of home barn for the chestnut filly prophetic? She runs out of the Victorious stable, and she’s coming in riding a two-race victory streak. Last out she took home top prize in the Grade 1 California Oaks. In a field with quite a few horses that need to be up front to have any hope, Allthesweetthings will find her sweet spot running from behind – she much prefers and indeed excels settling several lengths back early and moving up late with a solid stretch run. She’s had a nice couple of races leading up to this performance, looks to be on top of her game, and has to be feared.
Trainer John5339 enters the 10 filly, El Fuego. A more apt name for a racehorse we have never seen – this filly is truly fire on the racetrack. She has a perfect 6-for-6 record. She’s won sprinting, routing, on turf, and on dirt. John has brought her through conditions perfectly and while some of his entry decisions have been unconventional (Back and forth on turf and dirt twice in her first four starts? Why not!) it has certainly worked out well thus far. El Fuego is a daughter of Unbridled Success out of the unremarkable El Prado mare El Striker. She’s earned a top speed figure of 109, can run from way back or midpack. Will make a heck of a story if she exits the race 7-for-7.
Speaking of unconventional, Lordpye enters the next horse, Bulbous, under the Jakplummer banner. The Hurricane Run filly was looking like a pretty solid turf runner as an early juvenile and even represented the East-West Connection residency at the Equinics in 2012. Pye, never one to shy away from new tricks for his horses, tossed the filly into a a listed stake on the main track after a four-length loss at the Equinics and found that Bulbous was potentially stronger on dirt. She won on the lead and earned shots at two more dirt stakes to round out the year. Starting up the 2013 campaign with a nifty wire-to-wire win in a 9.5 furlong listed, Bulbous signaled she intended to make some waves this year. An average trainer would follow up with a graded run or two, but Pye is far from average. Instead he switched the filly back to grass where she fired a strong second. Once again a surface switch was Pye’s call, and Bulbous found herself in graded company as well in the California Oaks. She took to it well, finishing second behind Allthesweetthings. Add in a third last out in the Lool Oaks and you have an atypical training job that has worked perfectly to get this daughter of Gone West mare Pacific Oil Field to the biggest race of her young life. Pye has won a lot of big races in his long sim career through methods like this – will he add one more trophy to his collection on Friday?
Super has not one but two entrants this year. By morning-line odds, their first-stringer is Lady Coozette. The Bernardini filly, out of the Storm Cat mare Checkered Demon, has won half of her lifetime starts. She comes into this race well rested after a fantastic victory in the Grade 2 Old Bay Seasoning. She took to the 9.5 furlong distance like she was born to it, and while the Oaks will be a slight distance cutback, there is no reason to think in light of her body of work that it will be an issue. Her top speed of 107 was earned in the Old Bay, so she may be peaking at just the right time. Super of course has won the Oaks before (Lindy Hop is but one of their classic champions) but they would always appreciate adding another blanket of lilies to their stash.
Running out of the Onete6 barn for the Shizzle40 stableset is Shizzle Street. The bay Street Sense filly (out of the Bernardini mare Bandiera) sports a 50% win rate from six starts. The wins aren’t in any notable races, but she does have two very strong seconds in graded company to her name, and its on the strength of those seconds that Shizzle Street is drawing serious consideration from bettors at the Bluegrass racecourse. In both the Grade 3 SilverBulletBeer and Grade 1 Lool Oaks, Shizzle Street closely strongly and looked to need just a few extra yards to emerge victorious. She’ll get the ground here, and if she follows pattern if improving speed figures with every start, it’s a guarantee she comes out with better than a 107. Gossip on the backside is assistant trainer Jetman has been handling this filly for Shizzle. Props to all her connections for making it this far, and best wishes for a successful Oaks.
Post 14 features Chai Lai Angels, trained by Gabor (aka Kirby). The chestnut Pollard’s Vision filly is out of the stakes-winning Gone West mare Angel From Ventura. After her first couple of starts Kirby remarked that he “didn’t see a huge upside” to Chai Lai Angels. I’d guess if you asked him now his assessment would be quite different. She picked up her first (and so far only) graded win in the Walnut Tree last September, then closed out 2012 with a second to Grand Concourse in the Sell The Queen. This year she’s got a win and a second in a pair of listeds. She prepped for this race in the Grade 2 Old Bay Seasoning but never was a factor – unknown if she lost a shoe, or simply had nothing to give when asked. She’s a game filly that has already outrun her early expectations and anything more she accomplishes is simply garnish on a sweet career.
Given brings a beautifully bred candidate to the Oaks this year. Explosive Nine would be very aptly named should she come out on top at the wire. The scratchbred daughter of Bernardini has won four from seven, most recently the Grade 1 Los Vinegrette. She, like many of this field, prefer to run on the lead. Her starts have been smartly spaced and she prepped in a nice and easy allowance over this track. Given is a master in preparing horses for winning target races, and if anyone can bring a young horse along to win a specific race, he is the one to make it happen. This will be the greatest distance Explosive Distance will have run in her life, but based on pedigree and on past performances she will have no trouble. A really nice filly that will be fun to watch in this race and during the rest of the year.
What do you get when you let Ledwith pair Street Cry with his graded-placed Storm Cat mare K’s Klobby II? If you’re as lucky as he was, you get K’s Impasse, the #16 filly in our parade of supergirls. Impasse started her career April 2012 on the Victorian turf with a handy win. She followed it with a couple more solid runs on grass, but wasn’t spectacular enough to please Ledwith so he made a move to dirt in November and the rest, as they say, is history. She promptly turned in a strong second second place then reeled off four straight wins. The most recent was in the Grade 1 Lool Oaks where she beat Shizzle Street, Bulbous, and Kash On Tap among others. Impasse is getting ever-hotter on the main track, has so far shown no limits on the distance she can handle, is is trained by a man who excels at campaigning sim classic-distance runners. Very tough to see anything not to like about this filly.
The only filly with single-digit odds on the morning line is Stickpin10‘s Filobeel. She’s one of seven in this field with no graded wins to her credit, but Filobeel makes up for it on sheer consistency of speed. In eight starts, the filly has 5 with triple-digit speed figures. She’s never run outside of stakes (listed or graded) company so will find no issue facing this class of this group. Interestingly she is a stakes winner on grass, a stakes winner on dirt, a stakes winner sprinting, and a stakes winner routing. Versatility is the name of the game for Filobeel Speaking of her name, Stickpin drew on the filly’s scratchbred pedigree to name her. She’s by Teofilo out of a Zabeel mare. An interesting gamble to be sure, but it’s tough to overlook the impressive collection of speed figures the filly has racked up when assessing the field.
Dundey brings his Invincible Spirit filly Go On And On in from post 18. The chestnut is out of the Montjeu mare I Just Seen A Face. Most simmers would expect this pairing to produce a turfier as Dundey appears to have. Go On And On debuted successful on grass just under 11 months ago, ran a couple more times, then Dundey decided a surface switch was in order. Most trainers would switch to dirt and never look away. Dundey is not most trainers. Instead, Go On And On holds the singular distinction to be the first Oaks entrant to have ever run a race on the poly. She’s also the first Oaks runner to have ever won a race on the poly. After a strong win, Dundey surveyed the available race landscape and moved to the main track where the filly notched two straight listed stakes wins before closing her year with a second in a Minnesota residency stakes. She only took on graded company in her last two starts but with seconds in both she clearly relishes the challenge. Distance is no problem, versatility in the face of any challenge thrown her way is no problem. Will she be the first Oaks, nay, first Classic winner of any kind, to have won a races on poly and turf? We’ll know soon enough.
Kash On Tap is our 19th runner. She’s a bit short on cash compared to some of the entrants, but long on untapped potential. Running for Deepimpact (aka Roxyken) the gray filly hasn’t visited the winner’s circle since October. She has, however, hit the board in four of five tries since, and managed to notch three triple-digit speed figures. Kash On Tap is by Admire Moon out of the Tapit mare Attip. Her best speeds have been run when she gets to stretch her legs, so I’ll be very interested to see what happens she she gets to go 9 furlongs for the first time. I suspect she might do even better a little bit longer. Unlike pretty much every other trainer with fillies in the Oaks, Roxyken has not elected to try any surface-hopping. He put Kash On Tap on the dirt from the first and has stayed there for 11 straight races. Has it been the wisest course? It got Kash here, and we’ll soon see if it gets Kash those coveted lilies.
Our final filly is Lucky’s Neglect. Trained by Winorplace (aka MrLucky), Lucky’s Neglect is far from Neglected. Indeed, she’s had the most attention from her connections of any of the entrants. After all, she’s been entered in 13 races prior to this one – if that isn’t the opposite of neglect, I need a new dictionary. The filly is by Pivotal out of the Street Cry mare Lucky’s Expiration. Neglect’s younger half-sister is starting to show some of her older sibling’s talent already with a pair of solid second-place efforts. MrLucky’s effort’s with Neglect have not been in vain. Lucky’s Neglect has won five times, two of those graded stakes including the recent Dubai 1000 Guineas. She’s got three trips with triple-digit speed figures, two runs at 9 furlongs or longer, and the most experience of any filly in this race. Lots to like here.
There you have it – the field for the 2013 Bluegrass Oaks. Good luck to the trainers and their fillies!