Kentucky Oaks: Yet to be beaten, Malathaat tries to win one for Mom
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eight years after her mother finished fourth as the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, Malathaat will try to make amends for the family when she starts as the likely favorite in Friday’s $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
Fourteen 3-year-old fillies were entered, but Ava’s Grace was scratched Wednesday with a yet-to-be-diagnosed injury, according to trainer Robertino Diodoro. The area of concern is her right shoulder, and a nuclear scan will be performed to learn more.
In 2013, Dreaming of Julia was the 3-2 favorite in a loaded renewal of the Oaks. Dreaming of Julia got sideswiped coming out of the gate, was well off the pace, then had to steady again entering the far turn before making a belated bid to finish fourth behind her 36-1 Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Princess of Sylmar.
Pletcher is the trainer of Malathaat, whom he calls “a bigger, scopier version” of Dreaming of Julia. Malathaat, a $1.05 million yearling purchase by Shadwell Stable, is by Curlin.
Malathaat comes into the 147th Oaks undefeated in four starts. At 2, she went 3 for 3 including a win in the Grade 2 Demoiselle, which is run at the Oaks distance of 1 1/8 miles. A minor setback cost her some time during the winter. Malathaat didn’t debut until four weeks ago when she was able to run down Pass the Champagne to win the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland by a head.
“She had to work, she came home the last quarter in 23-and-2 and ran down a nice filly,” Pletcher said.
The question is whether just one race in 146 days is enough to have Malathaat ready to beat 13 opponents, all of whom have more racing this year.
“I think so because she’s naturally designed to go a mile and an eighth,” said Pletcher, a three-time Oaks winner. “The further she goes, the better she gets. She had a good foundation of 2-year-old races into her.”
John Velazquez will ride Malathaat from post 10.
In her two graded stakes wins, Malathaat narrowly beat Millefeuille in the Demoiselle and Pass the Champagne in the Ashland.
While those two certainly warrant respect Friday, there are others who could be tougher.
Travel Column won the Grade 2 Golden Rod here last fall and has two graded wins this year, including the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 20. With a good break from the gate that day, Travel Column raced up close and dominated Clairiere by 2 3/4 lengths.
“If you can sit that trip and punch on down the lane at Fair Grounds, you’d like to think you could get it done here at Churchill,” said Brad Cox, who trains Travel Column, an $850,000 yearling purchase, for Larry Best’s OXO Equine. “Similar ovals, long stretches. I’m excited about the opportunity with her.”
Cox has won two of the last three Oaks with Monomoy Girl (2018) and Shedaresthedevil (2020). In addition to Travel Column, Cox also will saddle Coach, a stakes winner here who figures to be lower than her 50-1 morning-line odds.
Steve Asmussen, a two-time Oaks-winning trainer, sends out Clairiere and Pauline’s Pearl. Clairiere was able to beat Travel Column in the Rachel Alexandra before her loss to that same rival in the Fair Grounds Oaks.
Asmussen is looking for a bounce-back effort Friday in her third start off the layoff from her 2-year-old season.
“Everything about her mentally and physically tells us she’s going to be better with time, and I believe that to be true,” Asmussen said.
Getting to run Clairiere 1 1/8 miles “is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” Asmussen said.
Pauline’s Pearl, a daughter of Tapit, will be making her sixth start since she began racing in December. She is coming off her best performance winning the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes on April 3 at Oaklawn Park.
“She has just moved forward by leaps and bounds with racing,” Asmussen said.
Crazy Beautiful enters the Oaks off a last-to-first victory in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. Trainer Ken McPeek said he loved the way Jose Ortiz rode her that day and hopes to get a similar type of trip on Friday.
“I think she’s going to need a little pace in front of her to get it done,” McPeek said. “She’s going to have to fire her best shot but I had pretty good luck with horses third off the layoff, this is her third race off the layoff. I think she’s as good as we can get her.”
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With the scratch of Ava’s Grace, the pace could come from Moraz or Travel Column. Moraz was the pacesetter in the Santa Anita Oaks before finishing third behind Soothsay.
Search Results is 3 for 3 and coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Gazelle. She drew post 12, but five of the last seven Oaks winners have been drawn in post 12, 13, or 14.
“I’d rather be outside and cruise up if they break clean and get a good spot,” trainer Chad Brown said.
Brown felt that Search Results got a lot out of the Gazelle because it was run over a demanding Aqueduct surface.
Millefeuille bounced back from a seventh-place finish in the Davona Dale to finish second to Crazy Beautiful in the Gulfstream Oaks. She drew post 14, but that post has produced Oaks winners Lemons Forever and Monomoy Girl in the last 15 years.
In the Ashland, Pass the Champagne split horses at the top of the lane under Javier Castellano, opened up a clear lead, but was run down late by Malathaat. George Weaver thinks both the filly and Castellano will benefit from the experience.
“It’s a benefit that he sat on her and he’s ridden her two turns on the dirt before,” Weaver said. “The night she was second in the Ashland, he felt [2016 Oaks winner] Cathryn Sophia ran like that at Keeneland and came over to Churchill and ran big. The filly’s training really well, she’s a got a great turn of foot when he needs it.”
Maracuja, second to Search Results in the Gazelle; Will’s Secret, the Honeybee winner and third in the Ashland; and Competitive Speed complete the field.
The Oaks goes as race 11 on a 13-race card that begins at 10:30 a.m. NBC Sports Network will broadcast six hours of coverage from Churchill beginning at noon Eastern.
While it is expected to rain here Thursday, the forecast for Friday calls for mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s.