Champagne Room auditions for Breeders' Cup in Remington Park Oaks

Champagne Room’s presence in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday brings some added sparkle to the Oklahoma Derby Day card.

She is the first champion to race at the track since Answer Lively in 1999, and the start is expected to serve as her springboard to either the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff or the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint.

The Remington Oaks is the second-richest offering on a program of 10 stakes worth a total of $1.3 million. The field of five for the 1 1/16-mile race is completed by Ever So Clever, winner of the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn; Babybluesbdancing, runner-up in the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks; Torrent, who exits a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan; and Holiday’s Angel, fourth-place finisher from the Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs.

Champagne Room has invaded from Santa Anita, where last year her win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies locked up champion 2-year-old filly honors. She also won last year’s Grade 2 Sorrento at Del Mar.

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Remington Park Oaks

KEY CONTENDERS

Champagne Room, by Broken Vow
Last 3 Beyers: 82-78-72

◗ Champagne Room has made just one start at 3, finishing third in the Las Virgenes on Feb. 5 at Santa Anita. She subsequently had a bone chip removed from an ankle, according to trainer Peter Eurton, and for her return shows a nice series of works in advance of the Remington Park Oaks.

“I think she’s doing very well,” Eurton said. “Her gallops have been very strong and healthy. Her workouts have been pretty solid.

“We’re trying to get a race into her before Breeders’ Cup, and it was this or the Dogwood [at seven furlongs at Churchill] and we chose the distance race. The two-turn race is what we really had in mind.”

◗ Eurton said routing first race back with Champagne Room will serve two purposes: It gives the front-runner a better chance of getting into a comfortable rhythm versus taking on a number of rivals with sprinter speed and it also helps set her up for either Breeders’ Cup spot, whether she moves out to 1 1/8 miles for the Distaff or cuts back to seven-eighths for the Filly and Mare Sprint.

◗ Champagne Room will break from the rail Sunday.

“I think she’s got a relatively high cruising speed and to take her back would be a big mistake,” Eurton said. “I think she likes to be free-running.”

◗ Mario Gutierrez has the mount for the partnership of Ciaglia, Exline-Border, Gulliver Racing, Christensen, Legan, and Alesia.

Ever So Clever, by Medaglia d’Oro
Last 3 Beyers: 69-71-83

◗ She was a sweeping winner of the Fantasy, but the concern is whether she will get pace to fuel her run as Champagne Room could prove to be the controlling speed.