Kentucky Oaks: Geroux to ride Simply Joking

Simply Joking, who finished a close second with a difficult trip in the Fantasy Stakes on March 29 at Oaklawn Park, will make her next start in the Kentucky Oaks.

Her trainer, Whit Beckman, said Wednesday that Simply Joking would run in the Oaks, where Beckman firmly believes she belongs, and not the seven-furlong Eight Belles Stakes on the Oaks undercard.

Simply Joking will have a new rider in the Oaks, with Florent Geroux replacing Jaime Torres.

By Practical Joke, Simply Joking won her debut in the six-furlong Letellier Stakes on Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds and stretched to two turns the next month capturing the Silverbulletday Stakes. An intended runner Feb. 15 in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, Simply Joking contracted a mild illness that forced her scratch from that race.

While Simply Joking missed only a little training, the Fantasy, just her third race, came after a 10-week layoff, and Simply Joking wound up in a stretch-long battle with Quietside, who’d been racing through the winter at Oaklawn. Quietside eventually pushed out to a three-quarter-length win, though Simply Joking, even in defeat, earned a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure.

Simply Joking is stabled at Churchill Downs and is scheduled to breeze this week, her first work since the Fantasy, Beckman said.

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