With Lightning out of the Oaks, Street Storm’s in
While Street Storm walked the shedrow at trainer Steve Margolis’ barn on a
cool and wet Tuesday morning, her immediate racing future was being hashed out
by Dann Glick, head of the partnership of Right Time Racing that owns the filly.
Would it be the $1 million Kentucky Oaks (Grade 1) at 1 1/8 miles on the
main track on Friday for Street Storm, or would she go a few races earlier on
the card in the $100,000 Edgewood at 1
1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course?
The decision: Street Storm will run in the 137th and richest running of the
Kentucky Oaks.
“We are going to give it a shot and go for it,” Glick said. “She is improving
by the day and you don’t get this opportunity very often.”
Shaun Bridgmohan, who rode Street Storm in turf race at Fair Grounds in
February, has been named to ride the gray filly in the Oaks.
Street Storm drew post position 10 for Friday’s race.
The defection of likely Oaks morning line favorite R Heat Lightning played a
role in the decision to go to the Oaks.
“When (trainer) Todd Pletcher’s filly went out, we had to take a look at the
race again,” Glick said. “We’re going to take a shot. I feel this filly has a
lot of potential.”
Right Time Racing also owns Bouquet Booth, who galloped 1 1/2
miles after
the renovation break over a sloppy track with Alex Castanon up. Fourth in the Ashland (Grade 1) in her most recent start, Bouquet Booth will be ridden
by Robby Albarado and break from post position 8.
Glick was asked if he had $2 left in his pocket, which filly would he invest in.
“I honestly don’t know,” Glick said. “Obviously Bouquet Booth is a proven
commodity and has competed against Kathmanblu and Lilacs and Lace. She jumped a
shadow in the Ashland and in the Rachel Alexandra ([Grade 3] at Fair Grounds in February),
she was rank. If she can relax, I think she will be a factor.
“They have both trained wonderfully and they are two different types of
horses. I’d take the $2 and do a dollar exacta box.”
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s Her Smile had a quiet
Tuesday morning at Barn 34, merely walking the shedrow in advance of her
now-confirmed date in Friday’s Oaks.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, who conferred with his owner Monday about her possible
run in the nine-furlong headliner, noted Tuesday morning that the green light
was in order.
“Bobby wanted to go and we’re a go,” Pletcher said. “My other horse (R Heat
Lightning, who was withdrawn from the race Monday when an apparent minor injury
was noted) coming out was a factor. That was one less good one he had to beat.”
Her Smile will be handled by Eclipse Award winner Garrett Gomez on Friday. The
rider had worked the Virginia-bred on Sunday morning when she covered four
furlongs in :50 2/5 on a “sloppy” track.
In the post position draw Tuesday morning for the Oaks, Her Smile was assigned
post position seven in the 13-horse lineup.
R Heat Lightning was “doing well” Tuesday morning according to Pletcher. The
trainer was alerted to a problem in the filly’s right front leg Monday following
her jog and discovered heat in her knee, a warning sign of possible problems.
After conferring with the filly’s owners, the decision was made to withdraw from
the race Monday afternoon.
“She (R Heat Lightning) had a good morning,” Pletcher said. “We’re going to
take her to Rood & Riddle Clinic tomorrow and hope this is only a minor setback.
It is an unfortunate situation. She was doing so well and we wanted this race.
But that’s horse racing.”
Dede McGehee’s St. John’s River galloped 1 3/4 miles “and
played in the mud” during the Oaks-Derby training session, according to regular
exercise rider Robert Wright.
“She looked like a dressage horse jogging back she was so fresh,” Wright said,
referring to the way St. John’s River extended her front legs. “She was very
happy. She kind of plays like that from time to time.”
Trainer Andy Leggio Jr. was asked to compare St. John’s River to his most
successful charge, the Grade 1-winning filly and all-time leading Louisiana-bred
earner, Happy Ticket.
“St. John’s River strictly wants to go a mile-and-an-eighth, or maybe
farther,” Leggio said. “She’s a one-dimensional horse. If I’m going to compare
her with Happy Ticket, well, Happy Ticket won at four furlongs, six furlongs, a
mile, a mile-and-a-sixteenth, a mile-and-an-eighth, on the turf, on the mud and
on a fast track. At this point in time this filly hasn’t done all that yet, but
maybe she will.”
Another filly St. John’s River will naturally draw comparisons to is her full
sister, the multiple Grade 1 winner Panty Raid, bred by McGehee.
“She looked like a little old rat,” Leggio said of St. John’s River when she
first came to his barn last year. “Small, tiny. But Dede, the owner, told me
she’s going to be a good one.
“Dede sold Panty Raid but she said, ‘I’m not selling this one, she’s going to
be my Oaks horse.’ Well, I just let it go in one ear and out the other. But it’s
developed into a true story.”
St. John’s River drew the outside post position 13 for the Oaks and is 30-1
on the morning line.