‘All Others’ is listed as a strong choice in Kentucky Oaks Future Wager

‘All Others’ is listed as a strong choice in Kentucky Oaks
Future Wager

With major stars Awesome Feather (Awesome of Course) and Turbulent Descent
(Congrats) unlikely to make the 137th running of the $1 million Kentucky Oaks
(G1), this week’s lone three-day betting pool for Churchill Downs’ 2011 Kentucky
Oaks Future Wager (KOFW) looms as a wide-open affair and the mutuel field, or
“all others,” appears likely to emerge as a strong betting favorite.

Wagering on the March 11-13 pool opens at noon (ET) on Friday and will, for
the first time in its nine-year history, include exacta wagering. Betting on the
three-day KOFW pool will conclude on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. — 30 minutes after the
conclusion of the second of three pools in its companion Kentucky Derby Future
Wager. The Kentucky Oaks Future bet will be offered at racetracks and off-track
betting centers throughout North America, and through Twinspires.com and other
advance deposit wagering outlets.

The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager offers fans the opportunity bet on contenders
for the 137th running of the Kentucky Oaks, which will carry a record purse of
$1 million, at odds that could be much more attractive than those available when
America’s premier race for three-year-old fillies is run on May 6 at
Churchill Downs. The Oaks, which attracted record on-track attendance of 116,046
in 2010, will be telecast live on NBC’s Versus network.

Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia foresees Davona Dale (G2) winner R
HEAT LIGHTNING (Trippi) (#16) and Las Virgenes (G1) winner and Santa Anita Oaks
(G1) runner-up ZAZU (Tapit) (#23) as the strongest candidates for favoritism
among the 23 individual fillies on the list of 24 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager
betting interests. But the mutuel field, which includes all three-year-old
fillies other than those 23 horses, is a strong 5-2 favorite in Battaglia’s
morning line odds for the 2011 Oaks Future bet.

Notably absent from the roster of betting interests for the Oaks Future pool
are unbeaten two-year-old filly champion Awesome Feather and Santa Anita Oaks
winner Turbulent Descent. Both fillies were potential members of the pool at low
odds, but trainer Mike Puype last week ruled out the Kentucky Oaks for Turbulent
Descent, who will instead focus on races at distances shorter than the Oaks’ 1
1/8 miles, and Awesome Feather, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies
(G1) last fall at Churchill Downs, has been slowed by injury and only recently
returned to light training for trainer Chad Brown.

R Heat Lightning, trained by two-time Kentucky Oaks winner Todd Pletcher, won
the Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga at two and completed that season with a runner-up
finish to champion Awesome Feather in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She
has a record of 3-3-0 in seven races for R. Paul Robsham Stables and has earned
$772,800. Zazu, a gray filly trained by John Sadler and owned by Mr. and Mrs.
Jerome Moss of Zenyatta fame, has won two of seven races and handed Turbulent
Descent her only loss in the Las Virgenes.

Other fillies that figure to attract significant attention during the
Kentucky Oaks Future Wager’s weekend run include Davona Dale (G2) runner-up and
Pocahontas (G2) winner DANCINGINHERDREAMS (Tapit) (#4); IT’S TRICKY (Mineshaft)
(#9), winner of the recent Busher at Aqueduct; KATHMANBLU (Bluegrass Cat) (#11),
winner of the Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs and the recent Rachel Alexandra
(G3) at Fair Grounds; DELIGHTFUL MARY (Limehouse) (#5), third in the Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Fillies and Frizette; and A Z WARRIOR (Bernardini) (#1), winner of
the Frizette (G1) and third in the Santa Anita Oaks.

Ken McPeek leads all trainers with three KOFW 2011 fillies, HARLAN’S RUBY
(Harlan’s Holiday) (#6), Kathmanblu and SALTY STRIKE (Smart Strike) (#19), while
J. Larry Jones, who won the 2008 Kentucky Oaks with Proud Spell, trains two of
the fillies in the pool — JOYFUL VICTORY (Tapit) (#10) and SUMMER SOIREE (War
Front) (#21).

The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager’s win and exacta bets are $2 minimum wagers.
No refunds will be made on any wager made during the KOFW pool. If it is
determined during any pool that an individual horse has suffered an illness,
injury or other circumstance that would prevent the betting interest from
competing in the Kentucky Oaks, wagering on that filly will be suspended
immediately.

Wagering interests for the Kentucky OaksFuture Wager are chosen by a
three-member committee that includes Daily Racing Form national handicapper Mike
Watchmaker and West Coast correspondent Brad Free, and John Asher, vice
president of Racing Communications at Churchill Downs.

2011
Kentucky Oaks Future Wager