Ami Please taking Dubai route to Kentucky Oaks, faces males in Al Bastakiya
Ami Please is in the midst of an unconventional preparation for a potential start in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5.
Second in the Group 3 United Arab Emirates Oaks at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Feb. 17, Ami Please starts in Saturday’s $175,000 Al Bastakiya Stakes against males at 1 3/16 miles at Meydan.
The race will determine Ami Please’s schedule in early spring. Ami Please earned 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks with the second-place finish in the UAE Oaks. She may need more points to secure a berth in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks at 1 1/8 miles. The race can have a maximum of 14 horses in the field.
In the last five years that the Kentucky Oaks has been run in May, the 14th-ranked horse on the list of eligible runners had 16, 8, 40, 26 and 50 points. The race was run in September of 2020 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
“The goal is the Kentucky Oaks,” Ami Please’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, said from his California base on Wednesday. “We want to keep her in forward motion. Hopefully we get a big race on Saturday.”
In the Al Bastakiya Stakes, Ami Please is one of two fillies in a field of 12. The competition includes Mr Raj, third behind the O’Neill-trained Tall Boy in the Group 3 UAE 2000 Guineas at Meydan on Feb. 10, and the recent Meydan allowance race winners Go Soldier Go, Lahresh and Southern Ar tist.
Tall Boy and Ah Jeez, the winner of an allowance race on Feb. 24, are O’Neill’s two hopes for the Grade 2 United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan on March 25. The race is a key prep for the Kentucky Derby on May 6.
O’Neill has won two races from eight runners at Meydan this winter.
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