Abel Tasman, Always Dreaming highlight Oaks undercard

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – The 4-year-old debut of Abel Tasman, an appearance by star 3-year-old turf filly Rushing Fall, and a return to Churchill Downs by 2017 Kentucky Derby-winner Always Dreaming form the very, very sturdy backbone of the Kentucky Oaks undercard on Friday at Churchill Downs.

Abel Tasman races for the first time since winning an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly of 2017 when she faces seven rivals in the $350,000 La Troienne Stakes, the only Grade 1 race on the program besides the Oaks. Abel Tasman concluded her 3-year-old season with a fine second-place finish behind Forever Unbridled in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and launches her 2018 campaign at the site of her biggest win last year, the Kentucky Oaks.

Abel Tasman, with Mike Smith named to ride for trainer Bob Baffert, drew post 3 in the 1 1/16-mile La Troienne, carded as race 6 with post time scheduled for 1:17 Eastern. Her main rivals appear to be Martini Glass, Ivy Bell, and Salty.

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Always Dreaming starts in the Grade 2, $400,000 Alysheba Stakes (race 8, post time 2:53) after losing all four of his starts since splashing home a winner in the 2017 Derby. Always Dreaming’s career-defining moment came on a wet Churchill racing strip, and the local forecast suggests similar conditions could prevail Friday. Always Dreaming (post 3, John Velazquez) will need something better than his second-place finish March 31 at Gulfstream in making his 4-year-old debut in the Gulfstream Park Hardacre Mile if he’s to beat fellow 4-year-old Good Samaritan, who won the New Orleans Handicap in his 2018 bow.

Hoppertunity and Awesome Slew are the other best-known names in the 1 1/16-mile race.

Rushing Fall has won all four of her starts, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf as well as the Appalachian Stakes on April 8 at Keeneland, and will be heavily favored in the Grade 3, $200,000 Edgewood. Jockey Javier Castellano will be charged with working out a trip from post 11 in this 1 1/16-mile grass race (race 10, post time 5:04), and Rushing Fall carries 123 pounds, five more than most of her rivals. Trained by Chad Brown, Rushing Fall already has two wins over wet turf courses and rain wouldn’t doom her Edgewood chances.

The stakes action starts with the Grade 2, $200,000 Eight Belles (race 5, post time 12:35), a one-mile dirt race for 3-year-old fillies that lured only seven entrants but still holds appeal. The exceptionally fast Amy’s Challenge breaks from post 1 as she turns back in distance from two route races at Oaklawn Park, while Mia Mischief (post 3) exits a blowout Oaklawn sprint-stakes win and was an eye-catching allowance-race winner here at Churchill last fall.

Gas Station Sushi (post 7) was unraced since a debut win last summer in California when she authoritatively won the Grade 3 Beaumont at Keeneland in her 3-year-old debut.

And finally, 11 horses, headed by Vision Perfect and Bucchero, are entered in the Grade 3, $200,000 Turf Sprint, a five-furlong dash carded as race 7 (post time 2 p.m.).

First post for the 13-race, nine-hour card is 10:30 Eastern.