Army Wife continues ascendance with Iowa Oaks victory

Army Wife looked like a major player in the Grade 3, $225,000 Iowa Oaks on Friday at Prairie Meadows even before jockey Joel Rosario gave her a perfect trip. Good fortune in her sails, Army Wife cruised to a 3 3/4-length win over longshot Shesa Mystery.

Pauline’s Pearl, the 17-10 second choice, rallied mildly for third, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Shesa Mystery. Sister Annie, with Shesa Mystery prompting, set the pace through very manageable fractions of 24.47 and 48.18 in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. But Sister Annie was done at the quarter pole as Shesa Mystery took the lead with Army Wife tracking intently in third. Rosario tipped Army Wife three deep approaching the homestretch and they easily collared Shesa Mystery. Army Wife paid $4, and ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.10, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 90.

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Trained by Mike Maker for Three Diamonds Farm, Army Wife might have earned a step up in class Friday with her second straight win in a graded dirt-route stakes. A maiden winner from five starts at age 2, Army Wife has developed as a 3-year-old. She won a Gulfstream first-level mile allowance in her 2021 debut and might still have been a race away from her best when third, beaten more than six lengths by the high-level Search Results, in the nine-furlong Gazelle on April 3 at Aqueduct.

Army Wife, a daughter of Declaration of War and the Arch mare Tread, then won the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan, and closing into a much slower pace Friday she appeared to run just as well.

“She performed really well today like she did last time,” Rosario said. “It looks like she’s getting better.”