LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Here’s the scary thing. As Always a Runner made just the third start of her career in winning the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on Friday night, and trainer Chad Brown thought it was the first race of her career she was 100 percent, it stands to reason there’s room to improve. “Possible, yeah,” Brown said. “She just ran a remarkable race, and we’re so delighted with it. She really delivered.” Always a Runner ran down Meaning in a long stretch drive for a 1 1/4-length win in the 152nd edition of the Oaks on Friday night under the lights at Churchill Downs. Those fillies both emerged from their test, in what was considered an exceptionally well-matched edition of the filly classic, in good order and could meet again as soon as the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes on June 5 in Saratoga. Always a Runner did not race at 2 owing to a bout of pneumonia last fall that put her career in question. She dominated her debut Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs, but then dealt with another minor illness after that race. She reemerged to win the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes on April 4 at Aqueduct. Brown said later he felt the filly was at about 70 percent for that race, and the Oaks was the first time she was truly ready to be turned loose for her best. Always a Runner was to depart Churchill Downs for Brown’s base at Saratoga early this week. The Acorn, being run at nine furlongs around two turns this year while the Belmont Stakes and its attendant races remain in Saratoga, is under consideration. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “We’ll get her back to our summer base and consider running her back in five weeks,” Brown said. “But I’ll speak to the owners about it. We’re certainly in no rush, and if she needs more time, then we’ll focus on all the other 3-year-old filly races going long at Saratoga.” The other local races for the division are the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at nine furlongs on July 25 and the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at 10 furlongs on Aug. 22. Trainer Michael McCarthy said that Meaning is possible for a quick rematch with Always a Runner. “We’ll draw a soft circle around the Acorn and see how things progress,” he said, indicating that Meaning could remain at his stable’s Churchill Downs barn to train before heading to New York. Meaning, owned by Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, is now 3 for 5. Prior to the Kentucky Oaks, she won the listed Las Virgenes Stakes and Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks. McCarthy joked that the filly emerged from her stout run in the Oaks, in which she briefly made the lead, “better than her trainer,” who also sent out 13th-place Brooklyn Blonde, the Santa Anita Oaks runner-up. “She looked happy, she looked proud of herself, her trainer was proud of her,” McCarthy said of Meaning. Behind Meaning on Friday night, it was a length back to Counting Stars, who defeated the pacesetting Explora by a length for third. No next-race plans were immediately available on the weekend for the fillies, who both were reported to have emerged from the race in good order. Allen Hardy, assistant to trainer Mark Casse, said that both Counting Stars and stablemate Search Party, who was 10th, “came out of the race in good order and ate up.” Dan Ward, the local assistant to Bob Baffert, who plans to keep a barn at Churchill Downs throughout the season, said Explora was “very good” after her Oaks run. Multiple graded stakes winner Explora gave a creditable effort in the Oaks, a race she may have needed off a nearly nine-week gap between races. The filly won the Grade 1 Honeybee Stakes on March 1 at Oaklawn but then was forced to miss a final prep in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes – a race won by Counting Stars – after developing a minor fever. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.