Bushfire burns up the track at Keeneland

Bushfire captured the Ashland to earn her way into the Oaks (Joseph DiOrio/Horsephotos.com) Ashland S. (G1) victress BUSHFIRE (Louis Quatorze) smoked a half-mile in :47 2/5 over the fast main surface at Keeneland for Eddie Keneally on Saturday in her final work for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 5. “She went very well,” Kenneally said. “She will ship to Churchill late tomorrow and gallop up to the race. She will go the paddock probably Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.” Bushfire, a three-quarter of a length winner of the Florida Oaks before her easy 6 1/2-length Ashland win, will have Cornelio Velasquez aboard for the Oaks. Davona Dale S. (G2) winner and Ashland runner-up WAIT A WHILE (Maria’s Mon) traveled five furlongs in 1:03 2/5 over the fast track at Churchill Downs after the renovation break for conditioner Todd Pletcher. “She felt good,” exercise rider Frederick Buscialle said. “She’s going well right now. And she likes this stuff.” The “stuff” that Buscialle referred to was the sprinkling of rain.

Fantasy S. (G2) heroine READY TO PLEASE (More Than Ready) got in a half-mile
in :49 for Pletcher, who still hasn’t said if the dark bay miss is actually
going in the Oaks.

Alcibiades S. (G2) runner-up EX CAELIS (Fusaichi Pegasus), fourth in the
Fantasy S. (G2) most recently, went six panels in 1:15 for trainer D. Wayne
Lukas.

“I didn’t get a time on her, but I thought she went well,” Lukas said.

Ex Caelis ran fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) last year,
and will enter the Oaks with only one career win and only one start in 2006.

Fantasy S. runner-up MISS NORMAN (Artax) negotiated seven-eighths under
jockey Tony Farina in a useful
1:29 3/5 for owner Greg Norman.

“Mission accomplished,” Norman explained. “We wanted to give her a feel for
the track surface, and give Tony a chance to get better acquainted with her.”

Farina had his first trip aboard Miss Norman in the Fantasy last out, when
the dark bay filly looked a runaway winner at 41-1. In the stretch, though, Miss
Norman bolted toward the grandstand twice before finally straightening out and
getting second.

“We don’t know what really happened there,” Norman said. “We’ve tried to
correct some things we thought might be a problem, but we’re basically guessing.

“We can only hope it was a one-time thing.”

LEMONS FOREVER (Lemon Drop Kid) posted five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 before the
renovation break under Mark Guidry, who will be in the saddle for the Oaks. The
chestnut miss captured an allowance/optional claimer at Oaklawn Park in February
prior to running third by a length in the Bourbonette Breeders’ Cup S. (G3) at
Turfway Park last out.

“I think she is going to run big,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “She was
making a big move in that race at Turfway and got bumped real hard when she was
moving.”

According to Stewart, Lemons Forever will walk on Sunday, jog Monday and then
gallop until the Oaks.