British Idiom, Venetian Harbor top Kentucky Oaks-worthy field in Fantasy Stakes

British Idiom was the best female of her generation last year. Venetian Harbor is trying to lay claim to being the best of this generation this year. But to be the champ, you have to beat the champ. Venetian Harbor gets that chance Friday, when she and British Idiom meet for the first time when heading a deep, competitive lineup in the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn Park.

All the leading contenders in the race – including Swiss Skydiver and the Bill Mott-trained pair of Lake Avenue and Harvey’s Lil Goil – would have been at Churchill Downs on this day for the Kentucky Oaks. But with the Oaks having been pushed back to Sept. 4 owing to the coronavirus pandemic, Oaklawn tweaked its stakes schedule and postponed the Fantasy by three weeks from its original date.

As a result – with racing currently suspended in California, Kentucky, and New York – the Fantasy drew a Kentucky Oaks-quality field.

“It’s the toughest Grade 3 I’ve ever seen,” said Brad Cox, who trains British Idiom.

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A full field of 14 was entered in the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy, which offers 170 points overall, including 100 to the winner, based on the system used by Churchill to determine the field for the Kentucky Oaks. It is the penultimate race on the penultimate card of the meet, race 9 on a 10-race program that begins at 1:05 p.m. Central.

British Idiom, unbeaten last year at age 2 when she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to secure the division’s Eclipse Award, has raced once this year, finishing second to Finite on Feb. 15 in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds. She got a Beyer Speed Figure of 82 that day. British Idiom was intended for the Grade 1 Ashland four weeks ago prior to Keeneland abandoning its spring meet.

“I thought she ran really big in her comeback. The goal was to come back in the Ashland, but obviously that didn’t happen,” Cox said. “She’s trained really well at Oaklawn. I think she’ll jump forward her second start off the layoff. But it’s almost like another layoff.”

Cox has another strong contender in Shedaresthedevil, who won the Grade 3 Honeybee, the local prep for the Fantasy, on March 7 in her second start for Cox while outfinishing another Fantasy entrant, Alta’s Award.

“She was still eligible for a first-level allowance, but she trained so well she gave us enough confidence to go ahead, figuring we could always go back to the allowance,” Cox said.

Both of Cox’s fillies sit off the pace and then finish. They will have to run down the speedy Venetian Harbor, whose two wins at Santa Anita this meet were spectacular. She got a Beyer Figure of 94 beating maidens easily when sprinting, then stretched out and crushed rivals in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes on Feb. 8, earning a Beyer of 92.

“We didn’t know if she had the seasoning, but she ran really impressively,” said her trainer, Richard Baltas, who said Venetian Harbor “has more natural ability” than any horse he’s trained.

When it became obvious that neither the Santa Anita Oaks nor Ashland would be viable spots in early April, Baltas sent Venetian Harbor to Oaklawn, where he has had a string this meet under the supervision of assistant Aimee Dollase.

Early pressure could come from Lake Avenue, who is drawn two stalls out from Venetian Harbor. She most recently was third behind Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, but she was compromised by not utilizing her positional speed in a race that unfolded at a glacial pace. The race came up strong, with Swiss Skydiver getting a winning Beyer Figure of 90.

“She got stuck,” Mott said of Lake Avenue. “The pace was a lot slower than anticipated.”

Harvey’s Lil Goil has not raced since Feb. 2, when she was a powerful winner of the Busanda at Aqueduct going 1 1/8 miles. She was supposed to run in the Gazelle at Aqueduct four weeks ago before racing was suspended there. In the meantime, she has trained “super,” Mott said.

“I was looking to run her a mile and an eighth,” Mott said. “I think she’ll be okay at a mile and a sixteenth. But for some of these a mile and an eighth is stretching them. It’s not stretching her.”

Lazy Daisy, last year’s Grade 2 Pocahontas winner, makes her first start since finishing sixth behind British Idiom in the Breeders’ Cup.

Fire Coral makes her stakes debut following consecutive victories at Oaklawn since being stretched out around two turns.

Ice Princess – who is cross-entered in the Gardenia, race 8 – as well as Kansas Kis, Lady Glamour, New York Groove, and Ring Leader complete the field.