Crist: Coaching Club American Oaks preview

This year’s 3-year-old filly division is in disarray, especially now that the brilliant grass star Lady Eli is sidelined while battling laminitis. The eight Grade 1 races in the division so far this year have been won by seven different fillies. Lovely Maria is the only dual winner (Ashland on April 4 and Kentucky Oaks on May 1), while one Grade 1 apiece has gone to Callback (Las Virgenes on Jan. 31), Stellar Wind (Santa Anita Oaks on April 4), Spanish Queen (American Oaks on May 30), Curalina (Acorn on June 6), Include Betty (Mother Goose on June 27), and Lady Eli (Belmont Oaks on July 4).

The division was further rocked when Lovely Maria returned last weekend in her first start since the Kentucky Oaks and finished fifth as the 3-10 favorite in the Delaware Oaks.

Today’s Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga won’t solve the championship question but does bring together three of the top eight 3-year-old dirt fillies on the Wtachmaker Watch: I’m a Chatterbox (ranked second), Curalina (fourth) and Include Betty (seventh). That’s an important showdown itself and offers a clear path to the race that often decides the title, the Alabama in four weeks.

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Those three ranked fillies are the favorites in the CCA Oaks, and deservedly so. While I’m a Chatterbox (5-2) is still in search of her first Grade 1, she has won three other stakes, including the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, and was a good third in the Kentucky Oaks. Curalina, unbeaten in three starts this year, was a visually impressive last-to-first winner of the Acorn, looking like something special. Include Betty also rallied from last to win the Mother Goose.

Of the three, I prefer Curalina and I’m a Chatterbox. Include Betty, usually last early, may need a stronger pace than she’ll get today, and her connections may be more interested in getting g her a local prep for the Alabama, where 10 furlongs should really help her.

Keen Pauline, the fourth choice on the line at 4-1, beat Include Betty in the Black-Eyed Susan by stealing the race on the front end. Her upset victory was such a radical departure from her previous form that it might pay to be skeptical. Also, I’m a Chatterbox is not going to let her go too slowly or get loose up front.

The most appealing filly among the longer-priced players could be Chide (12-1). The daughter of Blame is too slow to win this without taking a big step forward but is improving with experience and distance and has plenty of upside, with just four career starts behind her.