Bottle of Rouge takes Virginia Oaks, shows she's a Kentucky Oaks contender
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NEW KENT, VA. - Ahead of the $250,000 Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs, trainer Bob Baffert said that if Bottle of Rouge was good enough to be a Kentucky Oaks contender, she would show him. It’s impossible to argue that she hurt her case on Saturday.
In jockey Flavien Prat’s fifth win of the day in Virginia, Baffert’s 3-year-old filly could not have finished better after getting bottled up on the rail for most of the race. Now a three-time stakes winner, she easily surged ahead of pacesetter Dazzling Dame in the stretch and went unchallenged in a 4 1/4-length score. She paid $3.60 to win.
“Obviously, the first quarter felt like we were doing a good clip,” Prat said. “But I felt like, after that, she had every chance and she took a nice breather. I felt like she was going to give me a run.”
In her only previous attempt at 1 1/16 miles, Bottle of Rouge disappointed Baffert, finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. The 3-year-old filly had no issue Saturday, completing the distance around one turn in 1:41.41 and getting an 87 Beyer Speed Figure.
“She’s improving race after race and continues to show she can handle more distance,” Prat said.
After earning 20 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points for her win in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks last month, Bottle of Rouge earned another 37.5 at Colonial. The Virginia Oaks was originally supposed to award points to the first five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis, but because longshot Somemunny to Love scratched, only 75 percent of points were given to the remaining field of five.
“She’s been a lot of fun to travel with,” said Jimmy Barnes, Baffert’s longtime assistant. “She ran well at Sunland and came here and won. I wasn’t sure how the race would set up because there was a lot of speed, but we were able to settle her. She rated well, and Flavien was patient and found a hole to get through. She did the rest.”
A Grade 1 winner as a juvenile, Bottle of Rouge has taken an unorthodox path to enter Oaks contention, as the trainer explained that he and his wife, owner Jill Baffert, have more freedom to choose her spots without outside influence. Another Baffert filly, Explora, currently leads the Oaks standings, most recently winning the Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park.
Already in the Oaks if all things go well with Explora, Baffert has primarily entered Bottle of Rouge for purse money as a 3-year-old, “having fun,” as the trainer put it. But with 57.5 qualifying points and another stylish stakes win in the bank, the trip to Churchill Downs in May is naturally shaping into a feasible goal for the improving filly.
“One of the question marks was how she would handle the progression, stretching out in distance and facing classier fillies,” Barnes said. “But she handled it well. We have two really nice fillies with her and Explora, and we’re looking forward to getting to Churchill.”
Dazzling Dame, who led through an opening quarter-mile in 22.61 seconds and half-mile in 45.64, could not contend with Bottle of Rouge late, but easily held second by four lengths for Brittany Russell. An 11 1/2-length winner in the $150,000 Busanda at Aqueduct in January, she now has 40.75 Oaks points.
Baffle, now a six-race maiden for Todd Pletcher, advanced from last to steal third in her stakes debut, picking up 11.25 Oaks points, a modest start if her trainer chooses to continue on this longshot path. Hit Parade and Kadabra, well back at the end, earned 7.5 and 3.75 points in fourth and fifth.
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