The Bluegrass Oaks Attracts A Beer Flight

The biggest race of the year for sophomore fillies is easily the Bluegrass Oaks. The big story in this year’s race is the “Beer Flight”. A beer flight is tasting portions of several beers and in this case the beer flight is the four fillies entered by trainer Beer Keg. An amazing accomplishment for any trainer Beerkeg has been targeting the classic races since last year and his breeding and training program has obviously worked well for him. But there are sixteen other fillies in the field and they are no slouches. Let’s take a look at them.

#1 Rightdownthealley 17/1

A grade three winner as a two year old going a mile, Rightdownthealley has truly blossomed this year. Both of her two starts have come at the grade one level and resulted in very strong races. She took a two month holiday between two and three and returned to the races in mid-February with a very close loss in the Grade One Vermont Is 4 Lovers. That race came at a mile and an eighth and saw her track the early leaders before closing into front runner Matcha Tapit’s lead to lose by only three parts of a length. She ran a 95 speed that day but she improved upon that by nine points in her next start. That race was the Batman Robin, again at nine furlongs but this time over an off track (her first try on one). She was closer to the early pace and took the lead rounding the turn and increasing her lead down the stretch to win by two lengths. She’s the first stakes winner from her Bernardini x Kingmambo dam and is a daughter of Flower Alley.

#2 Ryans Waromer 19/1

What to make of a filly who has only one routing win from three starts? Ryans Waromer made her first route start in November when she scored in the Grade Two Golden Red Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth. She ran a career best speed of 99 in that race where she was over eight lengths off the early leaders but closed to win by a length and a half. She got a three month rest after that start. She returned this year in the Grade One Vermont Is 4 Lovers at a mile and an eighth and again she was far behind – this time over ten lengths behind but she closed to finish fifth beaten less than two lengths. Her most recent start came in the Grade One Batman Robin over an off track where she finished sixth. So has she just had bad luck in her two runs this year? She’s never run a triple digit speed and she’s going to be part of a phalanx of late runners in this field. She’s a daughter of California Chrome out of a stakes winning War Chant x Storm Cat mare and is the only graded winner in her extended family.

#3 Domeplate Rush 12/1

The graded placed / stakes winning mare Devilish Thoughts has been a productive broodmare for her connections. She’s foaled two listed winners, a grade three winner and Domeplate Rush, her first grade one winner. Devilish Thoughts is a royally bred daughter of Kingmambo x A.P. Indy and Domeplate Rush is by California Chrome. Domeplate Rush didn’t really blossom until she tried routes for the first time last season. She won two allowances with very nice speeds and then was second in a one mile listed. That race came in December and she returned to action in early February with a graded debut. That race was the Grade Three SilverBulletBeer. Although she ran a career best speed of 99 that day she only managed a fourth place finish. She was eleventh early on in that race but closed nicely to lose by only two lengths. Domeplate Rush earned her grade one stripes in her next outing, the Key Lime Stakes at a mile and an eighth. In that race she sat closer to the early pace before running down the competition and winning by almost two lengths with a 103 speed.

#4 Always Bold 13/1

A winner of five of seven starts, Always Bold has lost only once in four routing tries. That loss came in the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Filly but she won’t have to face that race’s winner here as Dawngoesdowntoday has elected to face the boys on Saturday. Always Bold booked her ticket to the Breeders’ Bowl with a half length closing win in the Grade One Darley at a mile and a sixteenth. After the Breeders’ Bowl she took three months off and returned to the races in the Grade One Los Vinegrette Stakes at a mile and won convincingly with a 105 speed. That race was at a mile back in the first week in February. She’s never run the mile and an eighth distance which many of the other fillies here have (some have even gone further). She’s a daughter of Always Dreaming out of a stakes winning Medaglia D’oro x A.P. Indy mare so the pedigree sure says she can get the distance. She’s the first stakes winner for her dam but her connections were so impressed with this filly that they bred her dam back to Always Dreaming for 2021.

#5 Pitcairn Winds 16/1

As a two year old Pitcairn Winds never started in a route although she was stakes placed sprinting. Her connections decided to begin 2021 with an ambitious placement – the Grade Three, one mile Bayou Express Stakes in January. They were rewarded with a great run as the filly closed from tenth to win by a head. Her next race came a month later in the Grade Three SilverBulletBeer at a mile and a sixteenth and she sat much closer to the early pace before taking the lead around the far turn and winning by half a length. In that race she ran a 101 speed, a career best. Inexplicably she dropped well out of it in her most recent run, the Grade One Lool Oaks and never made a rally, finishing ninth. Perhaps that race can be thrown out as a bounce off her big run the month before and she can be forgiven. If she sits midpack in this Oaks she is a live longshot. Pictairn Winds is a scratchbred daughter of City of Light x Tale of the Cat x Broad Brush. Trainer Jubalrutledge gives this update on his filly “She is named after the Pictairn Island which is on my bucket list to visit. Maybe she can get me there at least in the Sim world. She has a lot of spirit and doesn’t give up easy. She is still improving and I hope I see her best at the Bluegrass Oaks.”

#6 Castle Bravo 21/1

Castle Bravo has only been off the board once in six route tries and that came in her stakes debut where she was fourth. That race was at the end of December and she was going ‘only’ a mile but this year she’s done well going longer distances. In her first start of the year she tried a mile and three sixteenths listed stakes and closed from eleventh to lose by just three quarters of a length. She ran a 96 speed that day. Jumped up to a grade two next out in the Miss Bonnie she was again very far back early on but this time her late close saw her go from tenth around the turn to first by a head at the end. That race came at a mile and an eighth at the end of February so she is well rested for this start. If there is a weakness to her resume it is that she has never run a triple digit speed. Her winning number in the Miss Bonnie was a 95. She’s a daughter of Blame out of an Awesome Again x A.P. Indy mare. The mare’s only other graded winner is a son of Unusual Heat who scored his biggest win at a mile and a quarter.

#7 Point Of Sale 11/1

Based on the grade one winning Pioneerof the Nile x Awesome Again hemare Saturation Point, Point of Sale may be a good bet based on pedigree. Saturation Point was good enough to win a Derby Lock as a three year old but finished off the board in the big race which was run on an off track back in 2017. He had a half brother who also was good enough to run in the Derby back in 2013 but again failed to hit the board. Point of Sale is a daughter of Tapit who should give her a good stamina boost as well. Perhaps she can avenge the family losses in these big races. Certainly her race record of five wins and a second from eight starts is a good sign but looking a little closer we see that she is undefeated sprinting – where she got her grade one win but her biggest finish routing came in the one mile Grade One Los Vinegrette Stakes where she tried to take the field wire to wire before tiring late to finish second by a length and a half. She did run a 103 speed that day, her career best but she returned in the Grade One Lool Oaks going a mile and a sixteenth and failed to get the lead early on, instead battling from second before taking the lead around the far turn then tiring to finish fifth. She’s never been beyond that distance so she’s a big question mark.

#8 Machia Tapit 23/1

The Radler of the Beer Flight may just be Machia Tapit. Radlers are typically effervescent wheat beers combined with a citrus juice – zesty, bubbly and delicious on a hot day. The free running Machia Tapit likes to play come and get me with her rivals in a playful fashion – giving them just enough hope that they might have a chance before finding another gear. Although Radlers are suited for hot days, Machia Tapit scored her biggest win in the February chill of Vermont in the Grade One Vermont Is 4 Lovers Stakes. That nine furlong race saw her open up by over four lengths and take a three and a half length lead into the stretch run before coasting home to win by three quarters of a length. That was her third stakes win in a row and second at that distance. She ran a 94 in a listed in January and then a 96 in the Vermont Is 4 Lovers. She’s been off since that mid-February race and she’ll have to improve her speeds but that shouldn’t be too hard. The scratchbred daughter of Tapit x Machiavellian x War Front will probably have company on the front end this time around too but perhaps if it is hot in Kentucky on Friday a Radler is just what the doctor ordered.

#9 Ice Ice Indy 15/1

Coming in on a four race win streak is Ice Ice Indy. Although she has never been off the board in seven career starts she didn’t break her maiden until December in a seven furlong maiden special weight. She returned to the races in a first level allowance at the same distance in January, winning after going wire to wire. In both of those races she ran 87 speeds. Her speed exploded to a 98 while winning her first route race, another allowance. In that race she sat just off the early leaders before making a strong bid to take the lead around the far turn and cruising down the stretch to win by a length and a half. That big speed gave her connections the confidence to make her stakes debut in her next start, the Grade Two Mellow Breeze Handicap and again she allowed the early leaders to do their thing before pouncing down the stretch and winning by almost two lengths with a lofty 106 speed. Her two route runs have obviously been very impressive but both races came at one mile so she’ll have to prove she can take the distance here. She certainly has the pedigree to get the distance as she is a daughter of Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice out of an A.P. Indy x Danzig mare. Her dam was best between a mile and a mile and a sixteenth but the sire choice here may allow Ice Ice Indy to go a little farther. She is her dam’s only graded stakes winner but the dam has produced three other stakes winners.

#10 Superblood Wolfmoon 20/1

Seeking her first stakes win in this race is Superblood Wolfmoon. She’s coming into the race off an interesting pattern. After running poorly in the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Filly she took five months off before returning to the races. Ambitiously placed in the Grade One California Oaks this deep closer unleashed a furious run down the stretch, closing from seventh by over six lengths to finish second beaten just a length. She was beaten that day by Sunday Kegger who sat closer to the early pace and got first jump on the rest of the field. That race was run at a mile and a sixteenth and Superblood Wolfmoon has never run farther than that distance, and her pedigree on paper looks like the distance shouldn’t be a problem, but digging deeper one finds some questions. Superblood Wolfmoon is a daughter of American Pharoah out of the grade one winning A.P. Indy x Mr. Prospector mare Papua Theft. Papua Theft won her grade one going a mile as a two year old and was good enough to try the Bluegrass Oaks back in 2006 where she finished seventeenth. As she aged she proved much better in sprint distances with occasional moves up to a mile. Her two best offspring are a grade two winner by War Front who also was best at springs and a grade one winner by Ghostzapper who scored his biggest win going seven furlongs.

#11 Road To Danzig 13/1

Road To Danzig has really earned her stripes this year. A stakes plaled two year old she took two months off over the winter and returned in a salty listed at nine furlongs where she closed from tenth to lose by just a head while running a 100 speed. She ran back to that number in the Grade One Orange Tree going a sixteenth of a mile further. That extra distance may have proven vital to her run as she gunned past the field to win by a length and three quarters. The scratchbred daughter of Quality Road x Pleasant Colony x Danzig tried another grade one at that distance in her most recent start but this time it was in the Whats One More Stakes against males. That resulted in her only off the board finish in her career. She was a bit flat in that start, never really making a move and running only a 99 speed. It is likely that she can regain her better form running back against her own sex but the big question for her is how she will handle the drop back in distance.

#12 Riley Reid 11/1

The deepest, darkest of beers is the stout, the deepest of which is the Imperial Stout which also happens to have the highest alcohol by volume of other stouts. Riley Reid fits this bill as she is a deep, deep closer. In three starts this year she was in 13^th, 14^th and 12^th position at the first call of the races, respectively. Interestingly for a horse of her racing style she’s never been further than a mile and a sixteenth but in her three tries at that distance she has two wins and a third. Her biggest win came in her most recent start, the Grade One Lool Oaks where she exploded down the stretch to win by two lengths with a 106 speed. The feeling here is that an extra sixteenth of a mile should suit her well and perhaps she will be a future horse to watch going a mile and a quarter. She’s a scratchbred daughter of War Front x Smart Strike x Uncle Mo. Let’s see if that deep closing Imperial Stout makes a big move down the stretch on Friday.

#13 Indy Sent Proposal 16/1

Indy Sent Proposal has a perfect pedigree for this race. She’s a scratchbred daughter of Arrogate x A.P. Indy x Private Account. She’s inbred 5×5 to Buckpasser who was a huge influence early on in the game and you rarely find inbreeding to him so late after his passing. After a so-so two year old campaign Indy Sent Proposal took about ten weeks off between November and January. Her return to the races came in a listed stakes going a mile and a sixteenth which she won by closing from seventh while running a 96 speed. She jumped up in class to the Grade One Key Lime Stakes in her next start and was slightly closer to the early pace. Around the turn she moved into third just over three lengths behind the frontrunner but she closed well to be second behind Domeplate Rush. Domeplate Rush sat a bit closer to the early lead that day and used that to her advantage to snag the win. Indy Sent Proposal did not diminish her reputation at all with that rally and she’s on the up and up. She ran a 101 speed while going today’s distance.

14. Stormpire 13/1

It is a big weekend for Massatoga with entries in both the Bluegrass Oaks and the Derby. Stormpire had a chance to run against the boys in her last, the California Derby Lock Prep but a poor showing there rerouted her to the Oaks. So far she’s been a bit unlucky in getting a grade one win. She was second by a half length in the Darley, the major Kentucky prep for the Breeders’ Bowl Juvenile Filly where she ran a solid fourth. Sent out to California she finished a heartbreaking second in the Movieland Starlet and then was third in the Los Vinegrette Stakes before her tilt against the boys. The grade three winning filly has Massatoga excited “She has to be strong if you throw out the last”. What is intriguing is that as a two year old she was pure speed. But in the Los Vinigrettte she started out in tenth before rallying to get up for third while running the best speed of her career, a 100. We’ll see what strategy she takes on Friday but versatility is always a positive in racing, Massatoga adds “Good luck to all the trainers on the 1^st.” Stormpire is a scratchbred daughter of Classic Empire x Forty Niner x Storm Cat.

#15 Settle For War 16/1

One horse who is peaking at the right time is Settle For War. After a less than thrilling two year old season she has made three strong appearances on the track this year. She began in January with an allowance win at this distance where she battled for the early lead before drawing away to win by nearly two lengths with a 95 speed. Adding an extra furlong and jumping up to grade one competition she finished second in the Orange Tree behind Road to Danzig. Most recently she was third the whole way around the track in the Grade One Batman Robin at a mile and an eighth over an off track (her first try on one). Even though it was a fairly even race she did run a career best speed of 101. Trainer Supertaffy believes the secret to her filly’s success is all in the blood. The daughter of War Front is from “one of my best family lines.” Coming from Supertaffy that’s saying a lot. Settle For War is out of the stakes winning Street Cry x Giant’s Causeway mare Settle For Street, whose first three foals were all stakes winners. Settle For Street is a half sister to two grade one winners and a grade two winners and there are a number of stakes winners under that second dam. Supertaffy thinks “the 9f on a fast dirt will suit her best…..fingers crossed she comes on strong and gets her first graded win. It’s a big ask but she’s a good filly.”

#16 Holidae In 16/1

As the holidays roll around every winter brewers start releasing Winter Ales. These are beers that are often mixed with warming spices such as ginger and nutmeg. What makes a trainer feel warmer than a filly who begins to come around with the holidays turning into January? That describes what Beerkeg must feel about Holidae In who has won two of three starts this year. The first win came in an allowance in January at a mile where she went wire to wire to win with an 89 speed. That was enough to send her into the stakes ranks next time out. In that listed going a mile and an eighth she again went straight to the front but faded slightly in the stretch to finish second with a 98 speed. Her most recent start actually came at a mile and three sixteenths in the Grade Three Happy Easter Stakes. Again on the lead she was nine lengths in front going around the turn and coasted to an easy tow and three quarter length victor and again improved her speed, this time to a 103. The scratchbred daughter of Candy Ride x Storm Bird x Curlin won’t be the only one looking for the lead in here so don’t expect her to open up by nine but she’s certainly got the class to compete.

#17 Cadet the Dread 16/1

Cadet the Dread has been first or second in all six of her starts. Trainer Cadet says she “flashed some talent as a two year old (but) was given some time to grow and mature” – taking off four months from September through January to do that. And boy has she matured! Her three starts this season have been pretty sensational. She started the year off with a fast closing second – coming from over ten lengths back to lose by less than a length – in an allowance at a mile and an eighth. That was enough for Cadet to “give her a chance to prove it in a listed stakes, which she won in the slop.” That’s putting it mildly – Cadet the Dread again showed a big closing kick (this time going an extra sixteenth of a mile) and won by a measured length with a 102 speed. Her most recent run also came on an off track in the Grade One Batman Robin at a mile and an eighth. Cadet describes the race thus “she broke last, but made a furious finish to end up 2^nd and qualify for the Oaks.” She ran a 101 speed that day. If there is one concern it is that her last two runs have come on off tracks. Again to Cadet “Obviously the off-tracks may move her up, but we aren’t going to pass up an Oaks try.” This is Cadet’s first tilt at the Bluegrass Oaks, although the stables were well represented in the Bluegrass Derby last year, finishing third. Cadet also feels that the filly’s pedigree may help her here. She’s a daughter of Curlin out of the grade three winning Malibu Moon x Unbridled’s Song mare Moon Cadet. Moon Cadet is a daughter of grade one winner Caddilac Moon, an open mare whom Cadet has used several times. Moon Cadet produced four straight graded winners for Cadet, but none have won at the top level. He says of the family “(they) tend to run very well on dry and wet tracks and has some serious speed figures that indicate the genes are good enough to score here.” Of his filly’s chances “You can’t win any of the races you don’t enter, hoping they set a fast pace and Cadet the Dread burns them up late to capture the first G1 for the family, and Oaks glory for Cadet Stables.”

#18 Della Jane 15/1

One of the best stories in the Oaks this year would be a win for Della Jane – because she is named after a new granddaughter of trainer Duanecrisp. The real thing probably won’t be impressed just yet but what a feather in her cap it will be when she opens her first stable! This Della Jane earned her spot in the field with an incredible win in her last start, the Grade Two Fantasia Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth. Duanecrisp describes her run this way “Shocking improvement last out to get up by a nose hair. She went from last to first with most of the running happening in the last ¼.” That long loping close certainly gives the connections a hope that an extra sixteenth of a mile will only help the scratchbred daughter of Liam’s Map x Smart Strike x Deputy Minister. She also ran a 104 speed in that start, one of the higher numbers in the field. Duanecrisp considered skipping this spot but thinks “this could be a once in a lifetime horse and (I) decided to enter.” He doesn’t usually push his fillies hard and Della Jane took four days to “start acting full of herself again” after that last run. But now “she has that look again and already is really sharp a week out from the race. I know she’ll be running late so we need a good pace. The competition is fantastic as it is every year. If she takes another step forward off of a quicker return she’ll be in the thick of it late.”

#19 OG Union Minister 11/1

OG Union Minister was a late addition to this field. She has more starts than any other filly in the field with eleven and she’s been in the money nine times, with five wins. She’s looking for her first graded win in this spot but the scratchbred daughter of Union Rags x Deputy Minister x Roberto does have two listed wins to her credit. In her most recent start she also finished third in the Grade One Lool Oaks while running a 103 speed. She very well may be last in the early going and she’ll need to navigate nineteen other runners to get up but there should be a lively pace to run at.

#20 Sunday Kegger 14/1

Coming off a win in the Grade One California Oaks one must think that Sunday Kegger calls for a round of Coronas, the most popular beer in the state. Best served with a lime wedge, Corona is a pale ale. Don’t let the name fool you, pale ales are quite well rounded, full of flavor and very approachable. I don’t know if Sunday Kegger is approachable around the barn but she’s certainly an approachable choice in this race. She was a grade three winner at two and has only made two starts this year. After a two month break over the winter she was ambitiously placed in the Grade One Vermont Is 4 Lovers where she sat second early on before tiring late. Six weeks later she returned to dominate the California Oaks field, sitting midpack this time before making a sustained rally to win by a length with a 103 speed. Certainly coming in on her third start off a layoff makes her an ideal candidate to move forward off that race. She’s a scratchbred daughter of Quality Road x Sunday Silence x Medaglia D’oro.

Good luck to all!