Though she is still on the hunt for her first stakes victory, Evershed has the chance to cement herself as one of the best 3-year-old turf fillies in the country in the $250,000 Old Dominion Oaks at Colonial Downs on Saturday. “We had the chance to go to Kentucky Downs or Colonial Downs,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “Those were the two logical spots to me, and looking at everything, she’s placed in a Grade 2 and it would be great to get her that first stakes win.” When owner Mark Grier asked Delacour to ship his lightly raced filly to New York for the Grade 2 Saratoga Oaks Invitational last month, the trainer had little to reason to argue. The race was certainly a steep class test for the last-out allowance winner, but it fit well in her schedule and Delacour embraced the ambitious approach. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports In her fourth career start and second in a delayed 3-year-old campaign, Evershed ran on well in graded stakes company to finish second behind undefeated Graham Motion filly Laurelin. It was a star-making performance for the winner and runner-up alike. Without Laurelin around to crash the party, Evershed stands out as the filly to beat in the 1 1/8-mile Old Dominion Oaks. But while Delacour brings her back to Colonial in search of a softer stakes opportunity, trainer Jonathan Thomas will try to stack the deck against her with three entries in the field of 10. The trainer’s key contenders, Will Then and As Catch Can, ship from the West Coast after graded stakes attempts at Del Mar. As Catch Can finished behind her stablemate in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap in July and has not run since. Will Then finished third in that race before finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August. Da Hoss Four weeks ago, few people would have accepted 4-year-old gelding Doncho as a legitimate contender in the $150,000 Da Hoss Stakes at Colonial. Trainer Michelle Lovell would have been one of them, but now that he has set the world record for 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass, she will have plenty of company. “I didn’t expect a record, let alone the world record,” Lovell said. “I just wanted to get him a win. His stride was so effortless that day.” After a rocky turf debut in April and a similarly poor effort on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs in June, Lovell brought Doncho back to the grass in August for an allowance at Ellis Park. With an uncontested early lead through blistering fractions, the gelding looked stronger than ever, powering home to win by 3 3/4 lengths. He completed the distance in 59.75, breaking the world record of Cogburn, who won the Grade 1 Jaipur last year in 59.80. Last year, Doncho earned a reputation as a profoundly dangerous dirt sprinter when he won the $150,000 Gold Fever at Aqueduct. Even then, Lovell believed that he could handle the grass, and after some trial and error, her gelding proved her right in an instant. He will re-enter stakes company as the likely pacesetter in the Da Hoss. Doncho’s key rivals will be Witty and Alogon, two experienced turf sprinters who will try to make up late ground on the front-runner. Witty has closed from well back to win two stakes in his last three starts for trainer Elizabeth Merryman, while Alogon will stalk the pace for Ned Allard after a competitive stint in New York. Rosie’s Royal Testament, a 2-year-old filly trained by George Weaver, will take on the boys in the $125,000 Exacta Systems Rosie’s Stakes at Colonial. Weaver has been ambitious with the lightly raced filly to this point and said that she’s ready for another test. “There’s not a lot of options for 2-year-old fillies running on the grass,” Weaver said. “So I’ll run her against the boys. She can do it.” Weaver decided to enter Royal Testament in the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies at Gulfstream Park in her May debut, but she started slow that day and faded to sixth in the stretch. Undeterred by that performance, Weaver considered entering her in another stakes off a layoff but ultimately decided to try a maiden special weight at Monmouth Park in July. In a much sharper performance, she dueled for the early lead and kicked away with ease to win by 3 3/4 lengths, earning an 80 Beyer Speed Figure. “She’s fast, always has been,” Weaver said. “She had the 1 hole first time out and didn’t break well, but she’s got some gas. Speed’s always useful. Girls, boys, anything in between.” Royal Testament’s strongest rival in the Rosie’s is expected to be Rogue Legend, a colt who will make his North American debut for trainer Wesley Ward. In his stakes debut in Great Britain in June, he finished third in a 23-horse running of the Windsor Castle Stakes at Ascot. Colonial Cup As he did in the Old Dominion Oaks, Thomas entered multiple runners with strong chances in the $150,000 Colonial Cup Stakes, a 1 1/2-mile turf marathon at Colonial. In this case, however, he only intends to run one of them. Twirling Point will likely start while Truly Quality is scratched. Like many of Thomas’s contenders on the card, Twirling Point is shipping to Colonial from the West Coast after a long stint at Del Mar. The 5-year-old gelding wrapped up his 2024 campaign in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby and returned in an allowance at the track in August, finishing third in his first start against older horses. “A sharp mile at Del Mar to a mile and a half at Colonial is typically not the best progression to go by, but [dam Kitten’s Point] was an adept marathon runner on the grass,” Thomas said. “We thought this was a good opportunity to try him at this distance.” Kitten’s Joy Jutland is one of two juveniles with stakes experience entering the $125,000 Kitten’s Joy Stakes at Colonial. Trainer Kelsey Danner said she hopes that adding blinkers will lead to a more mature effort. “Even though he won first time out, he’s still been pretty immature about everything,” Danner said. After a precocious maiden victory at Horseshoe Indianapolis in July, Jutland was still green in his trainer’s eyes and suffered the consequences of that in the $150,000 Soaring Free at Woodbine. The colt was bumped out of the gate and swung wide into the stretch to finish seventh at 16-1. He is a much better fit as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Kitten’s Joy. Tough Critic, the only other runner with stakes experience, traveled overseas for George Weaver in June to finish 11th in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. He landed in another tough spot at Saratoga in August, finishing fourth by 11 3/4 lengths in the $150,000 Skidmore. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.