Jockey Club Oaks should set up nicely for McKulick
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – McKulick will have class and consistency in her corner when she takes on five rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3, $700,000 Jockey Club Oaks at Aqueduct. The Jockey Club Oaks is for 3-year-old fillies going 1 3/8 miles on turf.
A daughter of Frankel trained by Chad Brown, McKulick has a win and three seconds in four graded stakes tries this year, including a 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks on July 9. She was a victim of a slow pace when second to With the Moonlight in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks last month, but probably will get a better setup Saturday with Beside Herself and Toskana Belle likely to show speed.
Beside Herself is 3 for 3 in races where she dictated terms. The French-bred, German-based filly Toskana Belle has done her best running on the front, including when she won the Group 1 German Oaks last month.
“It’s not a big field, but hopefully there’s some pace in there,” Brown said. “We’ll see.”
McKulick is making her first start at 1 3/8 miles in the Jockey Club Oaks after having raced 1 1/4 miles in the Belmont Oaks and 1 3/16 miles in the Saratoga Oaks. Brown is hopeful McKulick can handle the distance.
“Just a feel I got from her after the last race to maybe try her a little further,” Brown said. “She’s been a real consistent horse for us. She’s not a very big horse, but I see her maturing a bit and developing the right way, so we’ll see.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. rides McKulick from the rail.
Toskana Belle is 3 for 5. She made all the pace in a field of 13 in the 1 3/8-mile German Oaks, and held off a late challenge to win by a head. Two starts back, she finished third in a trial race for the German Oaks.
“It was a bad race,” said Kevin Gately, assistant to trainer Andreas Wohler. “She was behind horses and the jockey was fighting with the filly. The filly likes it here. She’s fresh.”
Frankie Dettori has the assignment from post 4.
Beside Herself, a daughter of Uncle Mo trained by Todd Pletcher, is 3 for 8 and finished third in the Grade 3 Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs, 6 1/4 lengths behind McKulick, who finished second that day. Beside Herself has won all three of her starts when able to control the early pace, though those wins came when she raced on Lasix, medication that is not permitted in stakes in New York.
Flavien Prat rides Beside Herself from post 6.
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Miss Yearwood, a daughter of Will Take Charge, is in this race after she was excluded due to lack of earnings from last week’s Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs. She has a win on dirt going 10 furlongs, and most recently made a successful turf debut when winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Ellis Park.
Trainer Ian Wilkes said he had worked Miss Yearwood on turf at Palm Meadows in Florida, but was reticent to change surfaces earlier in the year because she had been running well on dirt.
“I knew in the back of my mind she could run on the grass,” Wilkes said. “The race at Ellis she ran good. It was a little short for me. More distance is better for this filly.”
Canisy was a front-running winner of an allowance race going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga in July before finishing sixth in the Riskaverse Stakes, also at Saratoga, on Aug. 25.
“That filly stays,” said Christophe Lorieul, assistant to trainer Christophe Clement. “Last time I don’t think we got much of a chance. She was down on the inside. She got bottled up a couple of times in the stretch. She’s a big filly; she’s got a big stride.”
Javier Castellano rides from post 3.
Nostalgic, who won the Grade 3 Gazelle here on dirt in April, tries turf for the second time. She began her 3-year-old campaign with a last-place finish in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant over Gulfstream’s turf in February.