Streaking juvenile filly champion filly Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway)
is a narrow choice as the favored individual horse, but the ever-popular Mutuel
Field (#24), or “All Other Three-Year-Old Fillies,” will again be a solid
favorite in the morning line odds for Churchill Downs Racetrack’s Kentucky Oaks
Future Wager (KOFW), which opens a three-day run on Friday and concludes on
Sunday.
Bettors were on target in 2014 when they tabbed Winchell Thoroughbreds’
Untapable as the 5-1 KOFW favorite to win the Kentucky Oaks (G1), America’s
premier race for three-year-old fillies. The Steve Asmussen-trained star rolled
to a dominant Oaks win and became just the third Oaks winner to also take the $2
million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) during a campaign in which she was unbeaten
against her gender and suffered her only loss in a fourth-place finish against
males in the Haskell Invitational (GI) at Monmouth Park. Untapable earned the
2014 Eclipse Award for America’s outstanding three-year-old filly.
The pre-race picture is murkier heading into this year’s 141st running of the
Kentucky Oaks on May 1 at Churchill Downs, and handicapper Mike Battaglia has
installed the Mutuel Field, or “All Others,” as the 5-2 favorite in the Oaks
Future pool. “All Others” includes all three-year-old fillies other than the 23
individual horses listed among the KOFW’s 24 wagering interests.
Willis D. Horton’s Take Charge Brandi, riding a streak of four consecutive
stakes triumphs that began with her 61-1 upset in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup
Juvenile Fillies (G1) on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, is the 6-1 favored individual in
lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager Pool of 2015. The string of stakes wins by the
D. Wayne Lukas-trained Take Charge Brandi also includes the Starlet (G1) at Los
Alamitos, Delta Downs’ Delta Princess (G3) and the Martha Washington at Oaklawn
Park. Her career record stands at 5-1-0 in nine races with earnings of
$1,680,125.
Despite her successful run, Take Charge Brandi is far from an overwhelming
choice among the individual Oaks contenders in the pool. Close behind are 8-1
co-third choices Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful), a romping winner of Saratoga’s
Spinaway (G1) and Aqueduct’s Demoiselle (G2) at two; and I’m A Chatterbox (Munnings),
who earned back-to-back wins in the Rachel Alexandra (G3) and Silverbulletday at
Fair Grounds since she joined the stable of two-time Kentucky Oaks-winning
trainer Larry Jones.
The Kentucky Oaks Future Wager enables racing fans to wager on contenders for
the Kentucky Oaks weeks in advance of the 2015 renewal of the 1 1/8-mile race
for three-year-old fillies at odds that could be more attractive than those
available on Oaks Day.
The wager permits $2 minimum win bets and $2 exactas, which are available in
$1 minimum increments in boxes and other multiple number configurations. The
KOFW pool runs concurrent to the third of four pools of the 2015 Kentucky Derby
Future Wager. Wagering in both the Oaks and Derby pools is scheduled to open at
noon (ET) on Friday. Betting in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool will
conclude at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 1 and Kentucky Oaks Future betting will
continue for 30 minutes before the pool closes at 6:30 p.m.
No scratches or betting refunds are permitted in the Kentucky Oaks Future
Wager. Betting on any individual filly in the pool will be suspended immediately
should Churchill Downs determine during the pool that injury, illness or some
other circumstance would prevent that horse from competing in the Oaks.
Total wagering on the 2014 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager (including win and
exacta betting) was $81,234. The betting total for the three-day pool in 2013
totaled $126,039.
Other fillies expected to attract solid support in the KOFW pool include
Callback (Street Sense), who is listed at 12-1 following a win in the Las
Virgenes (G1) at Santa Anita; Davona Dale (G2) heroine Ekati’s Phaeton (Tale of
Ekati); Forward Gal (G2) winner and Davona Dale runner-up Birdathewire (Summer
Bird); Davona Dale third-placer Eskenformoney (Eskendreya); Starlet runner-up
Feathered (Indian Charlie); and Puca (Big Brown), who exits a late-running
fourth in the Davona Dale.
Two-time Kentucky Oaks winners Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher each train three
of the Oaks Future Wager betting interests. Baffert conditions Callback,
Fantastic Style (Harlan’s Holiday) and Luminance (Tale of the Cat), while
Pletcher trains Angela Renee (Bernardini), Eskenformoney and Feathered.
The wagering interests for the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager are selected by a
committee that consists of Churchill Downs Racing Secretary Ben Huffman, Senior
Director of Communications and Media Services Darren Rogers, Director of
Programming and Senior Racing Analyst Jill Byrne, Player Services Manager Gary
Palmisano and Vice President of Communications John Asher.
Real time odds and other information on the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager is
available at
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/racing-wagering/future-wager/pool-3-oaks-odds.
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