Cookie Dough works five furlongs for the Kentucky Oaks

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – At Gulfstream Park on Friday, trainer Stanley Gold sent his Kentucky Oaks candidate Cookie Dough out to work five furlongs in 58.40 from the 4 1/2-furlong pole, according to track clockers. She zipped through early splits of 22.00 and 33.80 before tiring some late while finishing a sixteenth of a mile beyond the wire and galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.40.

“She’s currently 13th in the points standings and sitting on the bubble, so what happens in the Fantasy on Friday will likely determine if she gets in [the Oaks],” said Gold. “We’re basically in a holding pattern, waiting to see.”

If Cookie Dough doesn’t get into the Oaks, one option would be the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the same card, but Gold said the seven-furlong Eight Belles is probably too short for her. A more likely race for Cookie Dough if she doesn’t run in the Oaks is the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on May 17 at Pimlico, he said.