Celing Crusher hopeful for Charles Town Oaks bid

Ceiling Crusher, a two-time stakes winner beaten for the first time in her fifth start July 27, is an intended runner in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks in West Virginia Aug. 25, if she can gain a berth in the field.

The $750,000 Charles Town Oaks at seven furlongs drew a whopping 65 nominations, but will be limited to 10 runners, with four also-eligibles. If the race draws more than 10, as expected, the field will be determined by graded stakes wins or placings, or graded stakes earnings as the first two criteria.

Ceiling Crusher has raced only against California-breds and has no such earnings.

“We don’t want to put her on a plane if she can’t get in,” trainer Doug O’Neill said.

O’Neill said on Wednesday that he is “working” on a backup plan for Ceiling Crusher if she fails to draw into the Charles Town Oaks. One option is the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes, a $150,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at a mile at Del Mar on Sept. 2.

Owned by Wonderland Racing, Todd Cady, Tim Kasparoff, and Ty Leatherman, Ceiling Crusher has won 4 of 5 starts and earned $284,400. After easy wins in the Evening Jewel Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs and the Melair Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in the spring, Ceiling Crusher was third by 2 1/4 lengths to Big Pond in the Fleet Treat Stakes for 3-year-old statebred fillies at seven furlongs at Del Mar on July 27.

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