Ashland win by Defining Purpose boosts Wet Paint's stock in Kentucky Oaks

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Defining Purpose handed Punchbowl her first defeat in winning Friday's Grade 1, $600,000 Ashland Stakes, and also defeated Grade 2 winner Julia Shining and Eclipse Award champion Wonder Wheel. But another Kentucky Oaks candidate was on winning trainer Ken McPeek's mind immediately following the race: Wet Paint, who has beaten Defining Purpose twice this year.

"I think it flatters Wet Paint," McPeek said. "I mean, I actually was in a mindset of avoiding Wet Paint, because she whipped us a couple of times down there at Oaklawn. This was a shorter field, and what an opportunity for a Grade 1. But Midwest horses are pretty tough horses - especially with the purse structure at Oaklawn."

Defining Purpose, winner of the Year's End Stakes in December on a fast Oaklawn track, finished third behind Wet Paint in the Martha Washington Stakes on Jan. 28. She then was sixth behind that foe in the Grade 3 Honeybee on Feb. 25. Both those races were won by Wet Paint and came on wet tracks.
McPeek gave Defining Purpose a brief freshening before her race in the Ashland, in which she earned a career-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure.

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Meanwhile, Wet Paint went on to complete her sweep of Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks prep series with a score in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes on April 1, establishing herself as a favorite for the May 5 Oaks. The Oaks is limited to 14 starters, with that field based on points earned in designated races.

Defining Purpose, who is assured a spot in the Oaks field with the 100 points she earned Friday, was scheduled to ship from Lexington to Churchill Downs in Louisville on Monday or Tuesday to begin preparing for the filly classic.

Punchbowl, second by half a length in the Ashland in just her third start, was scheduled to ship to Churchill Downs on Sunday, according to Blake Cox, assistant to his father, trainer Brad Cox. Punchbowl is 16th on the Oaks points leaderboard ahead of Saturday's two remaining major-point prep races.

Julia Shining is in a slightly better position, sitting 14th in the standings after Friday. Trainer Todd Pletcher expressed his desire to run the filly in the Kentucky Oaks if she can get in.

Meanwhile, Wonder Wheel, returning to the track on which she won a pair of Grade 1 races last fall, was a non-threatening sixth in the Ashland. Trainer Mark Casse said the filly emerged from the race in good order and would head to Churchill on Sunday. She sits 12th on the leaderboard.

“She’s good this morning, but yesterday, it just wasn’t her day,” Casse said. “We’ll take her to Churchill and see how she trains, but she may not get in."

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