The Grade 2, $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs on Saturday offers qualifying points, on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis, toward the 2026 Kentucky Oaks – the race has historically been a good place to spot Oaks candidates. Over the past two decades, Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra (won 2008 Golden Rod) and Good Cheer (2024) have won both races. During the same span, the Golden Rod also has produced Kentucky Oaks winners Summerly (third in 2004 Golden Rod), Monomoy Girl (second in 2017), Secret Oath (fifth in 2021), Pretty Mischievous (third in 2022), and Thorpedo Anna (second in 2023). The Golden Rod became a much more wide-open race Wednesday when it was reported that Explora, the morning-line favorite off a win in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf and a runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, would be scratched. Track publicist Kevin Kerstein reported that Explora was not on a flight from California with her three other Bob Baffert-trained stablemates expected to run this weekend. There are still stakes-seasoned fillies among what is now a field of 12. Life of Joy, who has already shown an affinity for this track, is likely to inherit favoritism for Brad Cox, who trained the aforementioned Good Cheer and Monomoy Girl, as well as another Kentucky Oaks winner in 2020 heroine Shedaresthedevil. Life of Joy won her maiden in a runaway going a mile at Horseshoe Indianapolis and proved it was not a fluke with a victory in the Rags to Riches Stakes early this meet, going the same 1 1/16 miles as the Golden Rod. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. The Grumpy Rabbit, a mile maiden winner at Ellis Park, was third in the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland. She then set the pace in the Rags to Riches before finishing second by 2 1/4 lengths to Life of Joy. She has drawn the extreme outside post, and if she wants to be near the lead and avoid losing too much ground, she and Brian Hernandez Jr. will have to clear the field. There is plenty of speed to her inside. Letmecounttheways has won both her starts on the front end against New York-breds, including the Maid of the Mist at a one-turn mile last out. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 81 in that effort, the best in this field. For comparison, Life of Joy and The Grumpy Rabbit’s top figures are 74 and 72, respectively. Adding to the pace from post 2 should be Essential Coffee, who is coming off a front-running maiden score. The fleet-footed maiden Raspberry is adding blinkers. A number of promising maiden winners are stepping up in class, including Atropa, who won by 10 lengths going 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland. Runner-up Measure has already come back to win out of that race. Bella Ballerina only went six furlongs in her 4 1/4-length debut win at Keeneland, but pedigree suggests she will go longer. Godolphin’s homebred daughter of Street Sense is out of Grade 1 winner Pretty City Dancer, making her a half-sister to Oaks winner and champion Pretty Mischievous. Like her older half-sister, she is trained by Brendan Walsh. Tyler Gaffalione will be in the irons again. “Tyler said she got into a nice cruising speed,” Walsh said of the maiden win. “He said she’ll run all day if we need her to. It’s exciting.” Baracca earned a 75 Beyer, the second-highest figure in this field, in an allowance/optional-claiming victory last out. Baracca will be going two turns for the first time. Just Singing was a maiden special weight winner at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill. The maiden winners Coco Connect and Vita Mia, and the maiden Wonzee Weather complete the field. ◗ Two-year-old fillies will get a chance to sprint in Saturday’s $225,000 Fern Creek Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs. A Fine Chardonnay, On Time Girl, and Woodstock finished first through third in a similar event, the Myrtlewood Stakes, on Oct. 24 at Keeneland. :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  Gaffalione has the mount on A Fine Chardonnay, who is unbeaten in her two starts for trainer Ian Wilkes. Woodstock was an open-lengths winner of the E.L. Gaylord Memorial at Remington Park prior to the Myrtlewood. Go to Girl is cutting back in this spot after finishing fourth in the Alcibiades and third in the Rags to Riches. Mackinac is an allowance winner but got that win on turf. A previous version of this article misstated the year in which Rachel Alexandra won the Golden Rod Stakes. It was 2008, not 2007. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.