LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Last fall, it wasn't certain if Always a Runner would ever be a runner. The filly developed what trainer Chad Brown termed "a very serious case" of pneumonia in the fall and spent over month in a clinic recovering. "This filly was struggling," Brown said, recalling how difficult it was to call owner-breeder Three Chimneys Farm and co-owner Douglas Scharbauer and fill them in on the filly's illness. Even when she recovered and returned to the work tab in late December, it wasn't a certainty that she would progress to the races.   "Those things with horses when they have serious setbacks like that, you just have to take things as they come, day to day, week to week, month to month, and see how they come out of it," Brown said. "She had a good prognosis, but you don't know until you start putting them back in training and observing if there's any permanent changes [after] a horse has fluid in their lungs. Her career was really up in the air. She could have never run, easily. I've had it happen with several horses." :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. Not only did she run - but, boy, can she run. In just her third career start, Always a Runner and Jose Ortiz ran down Meaning in a long drive for a 1 1/4-length win in the 152nd running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks on Friday night under the lights at Churchill Downs.  Always a Runner ($13.04) kicked off what could be a huge weekend for Brown, who tomorrow will saddle Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Emerging Market, also making just his third start, in the Kentucky Derby. Brown, a five-time Eclipse Award winner as the nation's outstanding trainer, knows when to take his time with a lightly raced horse. He has resisted the temptation to push on toward the Kentucky Derby with horses such as Cloud Computing and Early Voting, and he has been rewarded for that patience with subsequent Preakness Stakes wins. His appearance in the spring classics this weekend with these horses is a measure of confidence in their ability.   “We try to find that balance running 3-year-olds this early in the season going for [big races],” said Brown, who won his first Oaks. “You try to get the horses here as best you can, in a position to win, but you don’t want to jeopardize the rest of their season. It’s a fine line you walk of how far you push for this, because if you swing and you miss, if you’ve really trained them hard to do it, then you’ve compromised your season. So it’s a balance, but when you have the right horse and you have the right team, things have a way of working themselves out.” Always a Runner, a daughter of Three Chimneys super sire Gun Runner, was finally able to make her debut on Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs, winning a mile and 40-yard maiden special weight by 6 1/2 lengths. She actually dealt with another minor illness after that race but reemerged two months later by jumping into the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes on April 4 at Aqueduct. She came wide into the stretch and was up in the final 40 yards to win by 1 1/4 lengths, going away. That win, at the Kentucky Oaks distance of 1 1/8 miles, and earning 100 points toward qualifying for the starting gate, moved her forward. "She was really only 70 percent for New York," Brown said. "Today, she was 100 percent for the first time. Walking over, I was saying to some of the connections, today's the first time I'm really going to turn her loose in a race. She had never really been asked before. And today, she got asked, and she answered." When the field of 13 broke from the gate under the lights, Explora hustled from her rail draw to secure the lead, sweeping into the first turn with the speedy Maryland-bred filly Dazzling Dame glued to her flank. Explora ticked off an opening quarter-mile of 23.08 seconds and the half in 46.85. Despite the pressure on her outside, jockey Flavien Prat said his filly was comfortable and "going very well on the lead." Meanwhile, Gazelle runner-up Pashmina was forward early, trying to secure position from a draw toward the outside of the gate. Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes winner Counting Stars was sitting inside, with Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks winner Meaning tracking in a lovely pocket in fifth behind the leaders. Always a Runner was following Meaning, in eighth and four lengths behind leader Explora after the half. In a situation that Ortiz said “rarely” happens, he was exactly where he wanted to be, tracking a horse he and Brown had discussed.   “She broke really good and was able to fall behind Meaning, which me and Chad had talked about as one of the possibilities, that she was a very nice filly to follow,” said Ortiz, who won his second Oaks, having taken the filly classic with Serengeti Empress in 2019. Dazzling Dame came under a ride at the half-mile pole passing the track kitchen and began to come unglued from Explora, who was just being nudged along by Prat. The filly shook loose by a length, but Meaning was coming out of her pocket and taking dead aim. Meanwhile, Always a Runner was full of run – and ready to use it when Ortiz tipped her out for the drive. “Meaning had a beautiful trip under Juan [Hernandez], and I followed him and I ended up just perfect,” Ortiz said. “Saved ground and tipped out right at the quarter pole. It was just a dream trip. I was very, very happy to be in the position I was.” :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Betting Strategies by Marcus Hersh and David Aragona. Full analysis and wager recommendations! Meaning put a head in front of Explora into the stretch as the other filly fought on grimly. But Always a Runner was in the clear on the outside of those two and digging in under steady encouragement from Ortiz. She caught Meaning late and swept clear to the lit-up finish line. Trainer Michael McCarthy was very pleased with Meaning’s performance. "I thought Juan did a wonderful job keeping her in the pocket," McCarthy said. "The running started coming through the three-eighths pole, and we were there every step of the way. Shook loose at the top of the lane, and for a second – kudos to Chad. That filly came running, and we were second best on the day." Counting Stars ground on to edge Explora by a neck for third. Explora had not raced since winning the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes on March 1, owing to a poorly timed fever that caused her to miss her final prep. She trained strongly into the Oaks in an effort to make up for the foundation and gave a creditable account of herself.   “She was in a good spot and hung in there,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “Turning for home, she gave us a scream. I am proud of her. She ran her heart out.”   After Explora, it was 2 1/4 lengths back to Prom Queen, who edged Zany by three-quarters of a length. Zany, the only filly besides Explora to previously win at the Oaks distance, was sent away as the lukewarm favorite in a well-matched field. She was bumped at the start and took dirt while racing in seventh early. She finished willingly enough while never a serious threat.   “I was right next to the winner [early on],” jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose’s brother, said. “At the three-eighths pole, we were moving good, but at the quarter pole, they opened up in front of me and she did not respond when I hit her left handed. Not today." After Zany came Percy’s Bar, who was in tight early, the fading Dazzling Dame, Resist, Search Party, Pashmina, Lovely Grey, and Brooklyn Blonde. The time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:48.82 on a fast track on a dry but unseasonably cool May day. The Kentucky Oaks was contested under the lights for the first time, going off at a quarter to 9, allowing for a prime-time national broadcast window on NBC. The announced ontrack attendance was 103,290. "For me, it was a very long day," said Jose Ortiz, who rode all but one race on the 13-race card that began at 12:30 p.m. "But it was a great day of racing for me." Ortiz won five races on the day, including the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes on Corporate Power and the Grade 3 Modesty Stakes on Kathynmarissa. The Oaks took place less than 24 hours before the Kentucky Derby, in which Ortiz will be aboard Golden Tempo for trainer Cherie DeVaux - ironically, a former assistant to Brown. Meanwhile, Brown will saddle Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Emerging Market, who will attempt to become just the second horse to win the Kentucky Derby with just two prior starts. Leonatus is the only horse to have pulled off that feat in 1883.   "If it's working, we're going to keep doing it - two starts and go!” Brown said of Emerging Market. “He's got a tall order. Have to really step up, like we did today."   One down, one to go? :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.