Caramel Swirl might kick off big night for Mott in Charles Town Oaks

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott might have won the first Dubai World Cup, but he never has won a race at Charles Town. Mott will make a good go of changing that Friday night when he sends Caramel Swirl out as the likely favorite in the Grade 3, $400,000 Charles Town Oaks.

About a half-hour later, Mott runs morning-line favorite Art Collector in the Charles Town Classic, the night’s feature, and by then might already have gotten off his Charles Town duck, which, to be fair, stands at a mere three races.

Caramel Swirl is one of 11 entered in the Charles Town Oaks, a seven-furlong, two-turn race for 3-year-old fillies restricted to 10 runners. Alayla is an also eligible.

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Caramel Swirl never has raced around a small oval like Charles Towns’ six-furlong racing surface, but the filly definitely enjoys seven furlongs. She won her maiden at Keeneland over that trip by more than 10 lengths, and on July 24 at Saratoga, racing for the first time after an early summer freshening, she stepped up to face older females and easily beat first-level allowance rivals, She earned a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure in that seven-furlong race. Caramel Swirl’s only poor performance came in the Eight Belles Stakes on April 30 at Churchill, where she broke slowly from a wide post and never got involved. She was returning to action just three weeks after her strong Keeneland maiden win.

“She was kind of coming back on short rest and kind of threw in a clunker there, but she came back and ran well since,” said Mott.

Mott likes post 1 for Caramel Swirl, who figures to leave the gate running and take a forward position under Junior Alvarado.

Pauline’s Pearl could be second choice in the betting. In April she won the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn and then finished eighth in the Kentucky Oaks. Pauline’s Pearl turned in an even performance finishing third, beaten more than six lengths, in the Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows, her only start since the Kentucky Oaks.

The Iowa Oaks winner, Army Wife, returned with a solid third-place finish last Saturday in the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga, but it remains to be seen how Pauline’s Pearl handles a sharp seven-furlong contest. The filly is out of the brilliant sprinter Hot Dixie Chick, but failed to fire while sprinting in her career debut, improving steadily after being switched to routes.

Her trainer, Steve Asmussen, sent out the first Charles Town Oaks winner, Four Gifts in 2009.

Street Lute is a seven-time stakes winner, Moon Swag nearly won the Indiana Oaks in her last start, and the Brad Cox-trained Inject comes off a third behind Souper Sensational in the Victory Ride at Belmont. But Caramel Swirl’s chief competition could prove to be R Adios Jersey.

Based in Florida with trainer Georgina Baxter, R Adios Jersey is perfect in four starts, rising from a $35,000 maiden-claiming debut score to easily win a Florida-bred stakes in her most recent start, on March 28 at Tampa Bay. That race came over seven furlongs. R Adios Jersey has been posting fast Gulfstream workouts, she has speed and the style to suit small-track racing, and jockey Paco Lopez gives up Friday mounts at his Monmouth Park base to come in for a return call on the filly.