Grade 3 winner Bouquet Booth worked five furlongs in 1:02 1/5 under jockey
Robby Albarado Friday morning at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Oaks (Grade 1)
prep occurred after the renovation break over a track labeled fast.
Fractions for the move were :12 4/5, :25 3/5, :38 1/5 and :50 3/5 and
galloped out six furlongs in 1:16 3/5.
“Robby let her roll from the sixteenth pole home and we did not want to
overdo it six or seven days out,” trainer Steve Margolis said. “She had her
major work last week (five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 on April 21).”
Bouquet Booth enters the Oaks off a fourth-place finish in the Ashland S.
(Grade 1) at Keeneland on April 9.
“I am a realist and I know it is a tough spot,” Margolis said. “I know she
might be the sixth or seventh choice, but she has proved herself with these type
horses and deserves a shot. She is training well and if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t
run.”
Delightful Mary worked five furlongs in company in 1:01 3/5 after the
renovation break under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan.
Working with Exclusive Love, Delightful Mary was clocked in fractions of :25
3/5, :37 1/5, :49 1/5 and out six furlongs in 1:15 3/5.
“It was fine. We had two clocks on her and we got her a second faster, but
that really doesn’t matter,” trainer Mark Casse said of Delightful Mary, who ran
third at Churchill last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade 1) in
her only start on dirt. “I was watching some of the other workers and it seemed
like some of them struggled with the track, but she didn’t.”
Delightful Mary, who won the O.B.S. Championship in her seasonal debut,
finished seventh in the Ashland last time.
Fantasy S. (Grade 2) runner-up Arienza worked five furlongs in :59 2/5, a
co-bullet shared with Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) candidate Archarcharch, but is
presently leaning towards the Eight Belles S. (Grade 3) on the Oaks undercard.
With retired jockey Larry Melancon up, Arienza clicked off fractions of :11
4/5, :23 1/5 and :34 2/5.
“It was a good work,” trainer Dan Peitz said. “I got her last three-eighths
in :35 2/5 and maybe a tick faster on the final time than what the clockers got
her in.
“I am probably leaning toward the Eight Belles. I’ll see how she comes out of
the work and how everybody else is doing but if Larry (Jones with Joyful
Victory) and Todd (Pletcher with R. Heat Lightning) are sitting on go, we may
wait.”
Suave Voir Faire worked five furlongs in :59 4/5 at the HighPointe Training
Center under exercise rider Frederick Carmouche. The move was the fastest of six
at the distance over a track rated fast.
“It was a good move. I got her last quarter in :23 4/5 and galloping out six
furlongs in 1:13,” trainer Speedy Smithwick said. “I thought the track was a
little heavy this morning. I thought it might be more wet-fast.”
Smithwick may take Suave Voir Faire out for light exercise Saturday and then
give her Sunday off depending on the weather, which has a forecast that calls
for rain on Sunday. Smithwick plans to bring Suave Voir Faire to Churchill Downs
most likely on Monday.
A distant third in the Golden Rod S. (Grade 2) last fall, Suave Voir Fair
occupied the same position in the Bourbonette Oaks (Grade 3) in her only other
stakes appearance.
In other Oaks news:
Ashland winner Lilacs and Lace had some light exercise under Eliel DeJesus
following the renovation break.
“She galloped a mile today because she’s scheduled to breeze tomorrow,” said
Reynaldo Abreu, assistant to trainer John Terranova, who’ll be on hand Saturday
to supervise the Oaks hopeful’s workout.
Lilacs and Lace has run all but one of her eight races on turf or synthetic
surfaces. She most recently captured the Ashland over Keeneland’s Polytrack
surface. Lilacs and Lace, who hasn’t raced on a dirt track since finishing
seventh in her debut, has impressed Abreu with her action while galloping over
Churchill’s surface.
“She’s been handling the track as good as you could want,” Abreu said.
Other Oaks candidates scheduled to work Saturday morning at Churchill are
pre-race favorite R. Heat Lightning, last-out winner of the Gulfstream Oaks
(Grade 2), and Grade 2 vixen Kathmanblu, most recently third in the Ashland.