My Happy Face, So Many Ways cross-entered to Charles Town Oaks

My Happy Face, So Many Ways cross-entered to Charles Town

Oaks

My Happy Face is the 9-5 morning-line

choice and will face a full field of nine other three-year-old fillies in

Saturday night's $400,000

Charles Town Oaks at

the West Virginia venue. The seven-furlong Oaks is the featured race on the track's fifth

annual Race for the Ribbon program and caps an All-Stakes Pick 4 that begins

in the 9TH race with the $50,000 Pink Ribbon.

My Happy Face, who is cross-entered in Saturday's Cotillion at Parx Racing, started

her career in stellar fashion, breaking her maiden by 21 lengths last year at Saratoga.

The Tiz Wonderful filly came up just

a head short of upsetting the Frizette in her next start, then closed out her

juvenile campaign with a neck victory in the Tempted at Aqueduct.

My Happy Face made her seasonal debut a runner-up effort in the January 26 Forward

Gal at Gulfstream Park before being transferred from Rudy Rodriguez's barn to

Chad Brown's shedrow to take the Lotka Stakes at Belmont Park next out. The gray

filly posted another second, this time behind divisional leader Princess of Sylmar, in the Coaching Club American Oaks

two back, and most recently endured a wide trip to come up just a neck short in the Test at

the Spa.

A win on Saturday night would not only push her career

earnings to nearly $700,000, but would also give Brown a second

consecutive victory in the Charles Town Oaks. Prior to being sent west to Bob

Baffert, Book Review took down last year's version of the

race for her first career stakes tally and Brown's first win at the West

Virginia oval. It was a factor that Brown admits to considering when picking out

this spot for My Happy Face.

"How we fared at the track definitely plays a role in coming

back," Brown explained. "Book Review ran well last year and the people at Charles

Town made it so easy on us to ship in and ship out that it makes it a lot easier

to want to return with a horse like this."

With a filly that has Grade 1 placings at both seven furlongs

and 1 1/8 miles, Brown thinks the nature of the Charles Town Oaks and track

could play into My Happy Face's hands.

"We think the two-turn, seven furlongs is something she should

excel at," he said. "We'll see how the field plays out, but that's the hope."

While My Happy Face looms as the likely favorite come

Saturday night, she will still have to contend with So Many Ways from the Tom Amoss barn. The 2012 Spinaway winner

was most recently fourth in the Test, beaten just two lengths for the top spot.

Following an undefeated two-year-old campaign that was

capped with a 2 1/2-length victory in the Spinaway, the Pennsylvania-bred daughter

of Sightseeing has one win from her six starts in her sophomore campaign.

Despite that lone score coming in the Eight Belles on the Kentucky Derby undercard

at Churchill Downs, Amoss has elected to scratch So Many

Ways out of Churchill's Dogwood on Saturday in favor of the Charles Town Oaks.

"The money is part of it, but none of it would have come

together if she didn't show us that she could handle the tight turns," Amoss

said. "Just like we did last year with Sum of the Parts who won up at Charles

Town, we took her over to Churchill's sister track to train over. It's a six-furlong track and she went real good around the tighter turns there and it

gave us enough confidence that she wouldn't have any problems handling them."

With the question about the tighter turns already answered,

Amoss set out to handle another potential obstacle by shipping So Many Ways up

to Charles Town on Monday, five days in advance of the race.

"We sent her up earlier than we normally would have. She

hasn't been the best horse in the paddock, so we sent her up to get settled and

will start schooling her in the paddock on Wednesday night," he explained.

Miguel Mena will ride So Many Ways in the Charles Town Oaks

as she breaks from post 7 as the 9-2 co-second choice on the morning-line.

Despite holding three wins in four career starts at Churchill, including a victory in

last season's Debutante, Blueeyesintherein is another who elected to pass up the Dogwood in favor of the

Charles Town Oaks.

Trained by Garry Simms, Blueeyesintherein rattled off three

straight wins to start her career, including her lone graded win in the

Debutante. Her first career defeat came at the hands of So Many Ways in the

Eight Belles, where she pressed the pace and held the lead in the stretch before

giving way and finishing fifth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths.

Blueeyesintherein rebounded in her next start

with an easy win in an optional claimer under the Twin Spires. Simms then sent

her onto the Just Smashing Stakes at Monmouth Park, where the dark bay daughter

of Magna Graduate was dealt her

second defeat, once again finishing fifth.

Leandro Goncalves has the mount on Blueeyesintherein.

The local contingent isn't without a presence in the

Charles Town Oaks, with their hopes spearheaded by Arlington-Washington Lassie

winner Gold Edge. Owned by James F. Miller, Gold Edge burst onto the scene as

a two-year-old by scoring in the first three starts of her career, including her lone

graded score at Arlington.

The Charles Town Oaks will mark the third different trainer

Gold Edge has had in her nine lifetime outings as she makes her first start for the

Charles Town-based Keturah Obed-Letts. Miller has horses with both Obed-Letts and

Wayne Catalano, and transferred the chestnut miss from Catalano to the locally based

connections after her seventh-place finish in the August 17 Hatoof at Arlington. The

Eddington filly made the first four starts of her career for trainer Lon

Wiggins.

Following her race in the Hatoof, Gold Edge was shipped up

to Charles Town well in advance of the race to Obed-Letts barn. Her new trainer

has noticed a change in how she's handled her surroundings since arriving.

"When (Gold Edge) got here, she was really quiet and

would just stand back in the corner of her stall," Obed-Letts noted. "But now, she's taken in the

sights in her new

environment, has gotten back to being a horse and is training much more

aggressively. I hope she can run back to her last work because it was very good

and she seemed to bounce out of it great too."

Gold Edge has the services of jockey Alcibiades Cortez for

the Charles Town Oaks.

The body of the race is rounded out by stakes victress R Free Roll, who will

be making her first start outside of Florida; last-out Monmouth Oaks runner-up Mr. Hall's Opus;

dual stakes heroine Guadalupe High; recent Delaware Oaks second Ile St. Molly;

multiple Grade 3-placed Fusaichiswonderful; and Awesome Mama,

who comes in off an allowance win at Charles Town in her last start.

The second horse with local connections -- the West

Virginia-bred Jax and Jill -- is currently the first horse on the also-eligible

list and would need a defection to compete. In addition to Jax and Jill, Thetaloveandmine occupies a

spot on the also-eligible list at number 12 and would need two scratches to draw

into the field.

One race before the Charles Town Oaks, another overflow field of sophomores

will take to the track in the $400,000

Researcher going seven furlongs. Our Double Play will be making his first

start for new trainer Philip Bauer after fading to fourth following a

pacesetting run in the Iowa Derby on June 29. Prior to that, the Grand Slam colt

captured the Prairie Mile in front-running fashion.

Mongolian Saturday could end up keeping Our Double Play company on the front

end. The bay gelding utilized the same leading tactics in his last three to

finish fourth, placed third via disqualification, in the Ohio Derby; second by a

neck in the Straight Line at Arlington; and fifth by just 1 1/4 lengths in the

Presque Isle Mile against older rivals just two weeks ago.

Five other stakes will take place on Saturday's Race for the Ribbon program

at Charles Town including the $85,000

Wild and Wonderful sending eight runners seven furlongs, the $50,000

Pink

Ribbon featuring an overflow field of 12 distaffers at the same distance and

the $50,000

It's Only Money with nine West Virginia-breds going 4 1/2 furlongs.

The other two are a pair of $50,000, 4 1/2-furlong contests for juveniles --

the

Henry Mercer Memorial, which drew nine colts and geldings, and the

Rachel's Turn, with 10 fillies entered.

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