Iowa Oaks

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

A field of seven has been entered in Saturday night’s Iowa Oaks (G3) at
Prairie Meadows, and HARISSA (Afleet Alex) could earn her first graded victory
in the 1 1/16-mile test. The bay lass was a decent runner on the synthetics in
Southern California, but really came to life when given her first shot on a
conventional dirt surface. That came in the Sunland Park Oaks, and the David
Hofmans trainee scored by 3 1/2 lengths on the wire. She was given a month off,
then returned to finish a better than appeared fourth in the Black-Eyed Susan S.
(G2) after being a bit rank early on. That netted Harissa a 95 BRIS Speed
rating, which is on par with others in this field, and she could return to the
winner’s circle at a decent price with Martin Garcia taking back the mount.

The lightly-raced SEEKING THE TITLE (Seeking the Gold) will be looking to
rebound off a dismal sixth in the Acorn S. (G1) in this one. The Dallas Stewart
charge threw her hat in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) ring when dead-heating for third
in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), but didn’t have sufficient earnings to make the
field. Instead, the bay miss showed up for the Black-Eyed Susan but never had a
chance to show what she could do after unseating her rider. She experienced a
bit of trouble and a wide trip during the one-turn mile of the Acorn, winding up
sixth. Seeking the Title is much better than that race indicated and could
finally add that elusive first stakes win to her record here.

QUIET TEMPER (Quiet American) is the one to beat on Saturday, having already
captured the Fair Grounds Oaks and placed in the Silverbulletday S. (G3).
However, the bay filly never got on track in the Kentucky Oaks two back and
still didn’t show her earlier form when fourth in the Acorn after being steadied
and encountering traffic. She could rebound in a big way against these but we’re
willing to take a stand against for the win at probable low odds. However, that
doesn’t mean the Dale Romans runner should be left out of the top three.

TAP TAP TAPPING (Tapit) has shown steady progression and merits respect here.
The David Vance-trained chestnut rallied to be second in the Dogwood S. (G3)
last out and could utilize the extra distance of this one well. Consider for the
exotics. ALL DUE RESPECT (Value Plus) had done her best work on synthetic
tracks, but did break her maiden by 7 1/2 lengths at Fair Grounds in an
off-the-turf, muddy test in late January. Since then, she has taken up residence
in trainer Kathy Walsh’s barn and proceeded to run second by a neck in the Santa
Anita Oaks (G1), a distant fourth in the Fantasy S. (G2) and third in the
Railbird S. (G3). The dark bay was a wire-to-wire, 10 1/4-length
allowance/optional claiming winner last out at Hollywood Park, and based on
prior form would have to catch a wet track to do any good here. She moves up
drastically if those conditions prevail, though.

REMIT (Tapit) captured the Panthers S. by a neck over the track last out,
earning a nice 103 BRIS Late Pace rating, and could earn a check in her graded
bow. SHOTGUN GULCH
(Thunder Gulch) looks to be a step below these. We’ll let her beat us.