At Churchill Downs on Monday, Grade 1 heroine DIPLOMAT LADY (Forestry)
breezed a half-mile in :51 1/5 over muddy going in advance of Friday’s Kentucky
Oaks (G1). Oaks rider Alex Solis was aboard for the move, which took place at
9:50 a.m. (EDT). The winner of the recent Beaumont S. (G2) at Keeneland, she was
the last horse to work and was all alone on the track.
“I would prefer to see her go in :49 and change,” Bonnie Paasch, wife of
trainer Chris Paasch, said. “But the track was so deep and cut up that I told
Alex to take care of her. She looked like she went smoothly all the way and came
back fine, not blowing a bit.”
Diplomat Lady’s last work before the Beaumont, in contrast, was a bullet
half-mile at Hollywood Park on April 6.
“There were two horses in front of her that day,” Paasch said, “and she got
competitive. Today she went out much later than she usually does and she was all
alone, so she just went along easy.”
The work came later on Monday morning than originally planned because Solis
was delayed getting to Churchill Downs, and when he arrived, he partnered his
Kentucky Derby (G1) mount BROTHER DEREK (Benchmark) first.
In other Kentucky Oaks news:
The prospective field has lost two fillies
but may have gained another. Fantasy S. (G2) winner READY TO PLEASE (More Than
Ready) and San Ramon S. winner PRESS CAMP (Comic Strip) will not run, but Suncoast
S. winner CRYSTAL CURRENT (A.P. Indy) could enter.
Trainer Todd Pletcher had previously said that Ready to Please was unlikely
to run in the Oaks. After her half-mile work in :49 at Churchill Downs on
Sunday, Pletcher made that initial inclination a final decision.
Press Camp will
not take part in the Oaks, according to trainer William Morey, because the bay
California-bred has not come out of her workout at Bay Meadows last Thursday as
well as expected.
“The filly has not been right the last two days,” Morey said, “and she has
got to be 100 percent. I think she will be fine, but the timing is bad. If the
race were next week, we might be all right.”
Crystal Current, who was not being mentioned among Oaks possibles recently,
has now been thrown into the mix by horseman Bill Mott, who said she’s 50-50 to make the race. The
Kinsman Stable homebred has not raced since finishing third in the March 18
Florida Oaks.
As it now stands, RED CHERRIES SPIN (With Approval), who has never raced in a
stakes and ranks 14th in the earnings list, looks like
she will earn a berth in the Oaks, which is limited to 14 starters. Conditioner Bernard Flint recently claimed
her for $75,000 out of a 6 1/2-furlong race at Keeneland that the gray dominated
by nine lengths. The filly is not nominated to the Oaks, so owner Naveed Chowhan will have
to pay $25,000 to make her a supplemental entry. Corey Nakatani will have the
mount.