Kathleen O. short price to stay unbeaten in Gulfstream Park Oaks

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In 1997, Glitter Woman won the Grade 2 Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream, giving trainer Shug McGaughey his fourth victory in a five-year span in that race for 3-year-old fillies. Over the last quarter century, McGaughey has participated in the race now known as the Gulfstream Park Oaks just once, finishing second with 11-1 Island School in 2011.

Saturday, McGaughey brings Kathleen O. to the Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park with the hopes of remaining unbeaten and becoming one of the choices for the Kentucky Oaks on May 6 at Churchill Downs.

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Given her accomplishments and the complexion of this field, Kathleen O. could very well be the shortest-priced favorite on the 14-race card, topped by the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.

Kathleen O., a daughter of Upstart owned by Pat Kearney’s Winngate Stables, is 3 for 3, including victories in the Cash Run Stakes here on New Year’s Day and the Grade 2 Davona Dale on March 5. All three of her victories have come with a late kick, a style that isn’t always successful on this track.

“I think her races have been good just because of that,” McGaughey said this week.

McGaughey said he was impressed by her win in the Davona Dale.

“She had to wait a little while, then you could see a seam was going to open so she was in a good spot,” he said. “She was able to finish.”

The Cash Run and Davona Dale were one-mile races contested around one turn. The Gulfstream Park Oaks is run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns.

“I think two turns shouldn’t bother her at all,” said McGaughey, who believes Kathleen O. will lay a bit closer under Javier Castellano in the softer-paced, two-turn Gulfstream Oaks.

The potential for a wet track shouldn’t bother Kathleen O., either. She won her debut by a head going seven furlongs in the mud last November at Aqueduct.

The Gulfstream Oaks drew seven, but Catiche is going to scratch to run in Saturday’s $250,000 Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park.

Goddess of Fire, trained by Todd Pletcher, is coming off second-place finishes in the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds.

“I think she’s improved,” said Pletcher, who like McGaughey has won four runnings of this race in a five-year span (2010-14). “I thought both races were steps in the right direction. She’s trained well since. Like all of them at this stage, she’s got to keep improving. But I think she’s shown she’s doing that so far.”

In the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, Goddess of Fire made the lead in midstretch but was run down by Turnerloose.

“She might have got a little complacent when she got there,” Pletcher said.

Trainer Dale Romans, who has won three of the last seven runnings of this race, sends out longshot Cancel This, third in a first-level allowance here March 10.

Running Legacy and Blustery, who comes out of a $30,000 claiming race, complete the field.

The Gulfstream Park Oaks, which offers its top four finishers qualifying points (100-40-20-10) to the Kentucky Oaks, goes as race 12 on the 14-race card.