The Dell Web Oaks
Three year old fillies are traveling a mile and one eighth on firm turf in the Grade One Dell Web Oaks. The purse is $400,000. There are five graded stakes on the California card, highlighted by the $1,000,000 CA Classic for older horses. The Dell Web Oaks has attracted a field of nine including several graded stakes winners. Chanway, Rozelle Niner and Penny Gadget have attracted the favor of the oddsmaker but it is a close spread going from 5/2 to longshot Backcountry at only 13/1. Let’s take a look at the field!
#1 Backcountry 13/1 westindies stables N Hein rides
Backcountry is a daughter of Mineshaft out of the f-grade Fusaichi Pegasus x Theatrical mare Spring Training II. Spring Training II produced one graded winner and one additional stakes winner from six foals. Backcountry has been a very solid runner since switching to turf in December of last year. She’s won half of her six starts on the grass, a maiden and two allowance runs. She was ambitiously placed in her stakes debut, trying the Grade One Classic French Diana Stakes and finished a very respectable fourth. Her last race was her best, finishing third in the Wang Chung Turf Filly Route with a 103sp.
#2 Muy Duro 7/1 mtk3man stables R Simcox rides
Muy Duro is a scratch-bred daughter of Smart Strike x Danehill x Sadler’s Wells. She has three wins from six starts, all on the grass and all this year. She won the Grade Three Penelope Cruz at a mile and five sixteenths in just her third career start. Since then she was second in a Grade Two and off the board in the Classic Oaks de English. She returned to the winner’s circle in her last start, taking a mile and one eighth allowance with a 102sp.
#3 Rozelle Niner 7/2 bjbandit2 stables F Gossett rides
Rozelle Niner is a daughter of Giant’s Causeway out of the g-grade Forty Niner x Buckpasser mare Dela’thedealer. She is the third graded winner that mare has produced from eight foals to race. Rozelle Niner has won two graded races, the Grade Three Irish 1000 Guineas Trial and the Grade One French 1000 Guineas, both at one mile. The latter race was won with a 109sp. She finished fourth in another Grade One and third most recently in the Grade Two Pioneer Boulevard Cup at a mile and one sixteenth. Overall she has six wins in eleven starts, including four of six this year. This will be her first race at the distance.
#4 De Medici 7/1 topicount5 stables A Dominguez rides
De Medici is a daughter of Medicean out of the f-grade Danzig x Seeking the Gold mare Fluffy. Fluffy’s first foal was a graded winner but she produced three rather non-descript foals before stakes winner De Medici. De Medici has three wins from eight starts, including two of seven races this year. She opened the year with a win in the Broadside Stakes at one mile with a 101sp. She didn’t approach that number until two starts ago when she won an allowance race at a mile with a 99sp. Last out she bettered that figure, running third in the Grade Two Gerry Cooney Handicap at one mile with a 106sp. She will also be traveling the furthest distance she has ever run today.
#5 Junmai Ginjyo 10/1 2tohold stables A Lewis rides
Junmai Ginjyo is a daughter of Distorted Humor out of the a-grade Dynaformer x Danzig mare Sake. Sake was a three time grade one winner routing on turf and earned over $2,000,000. Junmai Ginjyo is her first foal, her two year old by Dubawi is already stakes placed. Junmai Ginjyo has three wins in ten starts, with five of those races and one of those wins coming this year. Her winning trip was in the Grade Two New Zealand Oaks at a mile and one half with a 97sp. She was also third in the Grade One Japanese Oaks at that distance and second in the mile and one quarter Grade Three Tristan Fillies. Her last four starts have come at a mile and one half, so it will be interesting to see how she likes the shorter trip today.
#6 Penny Gadget 9/2 sheen stables M Staples rides
Penny Gadget is a daughter of Dansili out of the d-grade Rainbow Quest x Theatrical mare Espartaco. This is her only foal. Penny Gadget has four wins and four seconds from eleven runs. She is 6-3-3-0 on the year. Her wins include the mile and one sixteenth Double State Turf Filly Route with a 102sp. She’s been second in her last three starts, all graded races. She was beaten only ½ lengths in the Grade One 1000 Guineas at a mile; second again in the mile and five sixteenths Grade One French Diana; and last out second in the Grade Two Pioneer Boulevard Cap at a mile and one sixteenth with a 108sp. She’s hit triple digit sps in each of her last four starts.
#7 Chanway 5/2 roberto stables O Brim rides
Today’s favorite is a scratch-bred daughter of Thewayyouare x War Chant x Bould Hour. She has five wins from thirteen starts – eleven of which have come this year of which she has won four. Her only stakes win came in January in the Eazy Money Stakes at a mile and one sixteenth with a 95sp. Her last three runs have all come at a mile and one eighth and her sps have been very strong – a 105 in an allowance win, another 105 in a listed stakes and a 107 in the Grade One Princess Di Cap in which she was second by ½ lengths.
#8 Message in Blood 12/1 sarava02 stables L Jones rides
Message in Blood is a daughter of Rock Hard Ten out of the g-grade A.P. Indy x Storm Bird mare Breathing New Life. She is the mare’s third foal and first stakes runner. Message in Blood has three wins and three seconds from eight starts. Switched to turf in April she has gone 5-3-2-0. She broke her maiden going one mile and also won allowance races at a mile and one quarter and a mile and one half. She made her stakes debut in her last start, finishing second in the mile and one quarter Turning Japanese Turf Filly Special with a 100sp.
#9 Dysprosium 8/1 financr stables L Snyder rides
Dysprosium is a daughter of Unbridled’s Song out of the d-grade Danzig x Blushing Groom mare Primary Goal. She has produced one stakes winner and two stakes placed runners from six foals. Dysprosium has won half of her ten starts, nine of which have come in 2011. She broke her maiden in February at seven and one half furlongs but next won going a mile and three eighths in an allowance in April. She followed that with a win at a mile and one quarter in an allowance before trying stakes company. She finished off-the-board in the Grade One Diana Grand Prix and returned to allowance races. She has won her last two starts, going a mile and three sixteenths with a 99sp and a mile and one quarter with a 101sp.
Good luck to all!