Cambier Parc notably absent from six-horse Saratoga Oaks

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There were only six 3-year-old fillies entered for Friday’s inaugural running of the $750,000 Saratoga Oaks at 1 3/16 miles on turf.

Cambier Parc, a multiple graded stakes winner, surprisingly was not among them.

Larry Best, the owner of Cambier Parc, believes his filly has had a strong schedule this year including racing May 3 in the Grade 3 Edgewood at Churchill where she finished fourth; June 6 winning the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont, and July 6 when she was third, beaten a nose for second, to Concrete Rose in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks.

“The last race, the Belmont Oaks at a mile and a quarter, it took a lot out of her,” Best said Monday at Saratoga. “I need extra time with her. Second, I just don’t think I could beat Concrete Rose at this time. Thirdly, if you assume those two factors, why put the horse in a non-graded stakes race?”

Since it is being run for the first time, the Saratoga Oaks does not have a grade, although it has a lucrative purse. Best is considering shipping Cambier Parc to Del Mar for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 17.

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“That would be a possibility,” said Best, who also has the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in the fall as his goal.

Cambier Parc is trained by Chad Brown, who will still be represented in the Saratoga Oaks by Olendon, a filly he will be saddling for the first time. Olendon finished eighth in the Belmont Oaks in her final start for Pascal Bary. Brown is adding Lasix and blinkers to Olendon on Friday.

Concrete Rose, who is 5 for 6 in her career including victories in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks, Grade 3 Edgewood and Grade 1 Belmont Oaks in her last three outs, will be heavily favored from post 5 under Julien Leparoux.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien entered Happen and Coral Beach in the Saratoga Oaks. Happen most recently finished sixth in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. Though Ryan Moore was named to ride, he will not be able to come for the race and will be replaced by Wayne Lordan.

Lordan was named to ride Coral Beach, seventh in the Belmont Oaks, but he will be replaced by John Velazquez.

Kelsey’s Cross, third to Cambier Parc in the Grade 3 Wonder Again, and Her Royal Highness, second in the Open Mind Stakes at Monmouth on June 30, complete the field.