LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A French Oaks winner, a rare sight in North American racing, graces the Kentucky Oaks card on Friday at Churchill Downs. And not only did Gezora last summer win the Prix de Diane, France’s Oaks, she capped her 3-year-old campaign defeating She Feels Pretty, named champion female turf horse of 2025, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Not just a second Breeders’ Cup but a championship season – that’s where the bar’s set when Gezora returns from a winter break in the Grade 3, $500,000 Modesty Stakes. “Part of the reason I chose this race is the Breeders’ Cup is at two turns this year,” said trainer Chad Brown. “I don’t believe it’s a good idea to be running in three-turn races if we’re going to cut her back in the Breeders’ Cup. Therefore, I’m going to get her pulled back in these races.” The Filly and Mare Turf, run this year at Keeeneland, will be contested at 1 3/16 miles. :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Betting Strategies by Marcus Hersh and David Aragona. Full analysis and wager recommendations! Gezora won last year’s Breeders’ Cup racing over 1 3/8 miles around three turns at Del Mar, and she won it for her French trainer, Francis Henri-Graffard. She makes her first start for Brown and her seventh since Peter Brant bought Gezora from her breeder, Nicolas de Chambure’s Haras d’Etreham, after the filly raced four times at 2. In a perfect world, Brown said, Gezora would go from the Modesty to the New York Stakes, then to the Diana, on to the Flower Bowl, and finally back to the Filly and Mare Turf. Gezora need not be perfect to win the 1 1/8-mile Modesty, which used to serve as a prep for the Beverly D. Stakes before the demise of Arlington Park. Brown won the first Modesty at Churchill in 2022, but ran fourth and fifth in 2023, did not have a starter in 2024, and last year sent out the third- and fourth-place finishers. Friday, he stands a decent chance of sweeping the top three placings. While his other two runners, Kathynmarissa and Whiskey Decision, don’t rise to Gezora’s level, they can beat everyone else in the field. The race drew 10 entrants but no more than nine will run, with Pin Up Betty going in the Distaff Turf Mile on Saturday, trainer Mike Maker said. Gezora, Flavien Prat named to ride, probably prefers more distance than she gets Friday – her two major victories were 1 1/2 and two furlongs farther than the Modesty. Probably, it won’t matter. “She’s had a really nice winter at Payson Park. She’s really moved forward. Not that we’re changing anything with her, but there was a period of adjustment” to American-style training, Brown said. “We just let her adjust to the way we’re doing things, the way we train, but she’s a pro, a lot of class. My objective is just to get her fit off this little break and try to get her to where she was. I’m not looking to improve her.” Brown said – and one can see watching workout video – that Gezora struggled at times getting over the deep dirt track at Payson Park, Brown’s winter base. “I know where I’m at with her there – she can’t handle that track very well. She got here on a tighter clay track and went 48 and 4 under a hammerlock. Just a totally different horse here,” Brown said. Kathynmarissa could spring an upset if Gezora comes back rusty or encounters trouble. Two years ago at age 3, she won the $1.5 million Dueling Grounds Oaks and checked in second behind She Feels Pretty in the Grade 1 American Oaks. After Brown took over her training last summer, Kathynmarissa scored a sharp Saratoga allowance win, but could race no more in 2025. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. “One start off the layoff, she ran great, and then she was not right again. She’s had some soundness issues, but now she’s trained very well. She’s plenty ready for this. She’s a Grade 1-level horse if she stays sound this season,” Brown said. Whiskey Decision so far hasn’t looked quite like a Grade 1 horse, though she did take a tough beat last out in the Grade 2 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs. “Very consistent horse that I think is a bit of an overachiever. She trains a little sharper than she runs,” Brown said. “She has a good late move, she’s got a huge heart, but she’s not an electric finisher and it’s cost her a couple of close finishes. But she’s in that final rush to the wire all the time, and a mile and an eighth is her trip.” The Brendan Walsh-trained Proctor Street finished a good third in the Hillsborough, but if she couldn’t handle Whiskey Decision, what can she do with the likes of Gezora? Probably not much. It’s Breeders’ Cup or bust. Gezora’s campaign starts Friday. :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Clocker Reports by Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team