160 nominated to Ky. Oaks

Churchill Downs on Friday released the lists of nominations for the Kentucky Oaks and Woodford Reserve, the two Grade 1 races that help anchor Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill.

Every top 3-year-old filly is named to the $500,000 Oaks, which will be run May 5, while the same can fairly be said about the turf horses named to the $400,000 Woodford Reserve on Derby Day, May 6.

The 160 nominees to the 132nd running of the Oaks are headed by the reigning divisional champion, Folklore, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies last October. Other top fillies named to the 1 1/8-mile race include Balance, recent winner of the Grade 1 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita, and Wild Fit, runner-up in both the Juvenile Fillies and Las Virgenes. The Woodford, also at 1 1/8 miles, drew 128 nominations, including such grass luminaries as Artie Schiller, winner of the 2005 Breeders' Cup Mile, and Better Talk Now, winner of the 2004 BC Turf.