The broodmare Lady Samuri has established herself as one of the most noteworthy in production through the first third of 2022. The mare, owned by Stonestreet Farm, is the dam of a pair of stakes winners this season in Last Samurai, winner of the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap over the weekend, and Candy Raid, winner of the Bourbonette Oaks. Should Candy Raid go on to win the Kentucky Oaks, Stonestreet will have bred consecutive Oaks winners, as it also raised 2021 heroine Malathaat. Lady Samuri, a New York-bred by First Samurai, won 7 of 21 career starts, highlighted by the 2013 Lighthouse Stakes at Monmouth. She finished third in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher Stakes to Joyful Victory and Wine Princess in what proved her career finale. Stonestreet purchased Lady Samuri for $230,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November breeding stock sale while she was carrying her first foal. That Union Rags filly, Navajo, and her next foal, the More Than Ready filly Lady’s Maid, were both winners. Lady Samuri then produced her stakes horses in consecutive years, delivering Last Samurai, by Malibu Moon, in 2018 and Candy Raid, by Candy Ride, in 2019. Last Samurai, purchased for $175,000 as a 2-year-old by Willis Horton, was Grade 3-placed at Parx Racing last year and has blossomed during this winter-spring meeting at Oaklawn Park. The colt won the Poinsettia Stakes in December; was seventh in the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap in February; and was beaten a neck when second in the marathon Temperence Hill on April 3. Less than three weeks later, he stepped forward to win the Oaklawn Handicap by four lengths over favored Fearless. He is approaching millionaire status, with career earnings now standing at $946,744. Stonestreet sold Candy Raid for $35,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale to Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, which co-owns her with trainer Keith Desormeaux. The filly rallied to win the Bourbonette Oaks by 4 1/2 lengths in a $106.60 upset, punching her ticket to the Kentucky Oaks. Lady Samuri has been bred to former Stonestreet colorbearers for her two most recent foals. She is the dam of Magic Up, a 2-year-old filly from the first crop of classic-placed champion Good Magic. That filly was an $80,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase last fall by Michael Foster. After not being bred for a 2021 foal, Lady Samuri delivered another filly in March. That filly’s father is classic sire Maclean’s Music. Arizona-, N.Y.-breds in Oaks Two of this year’s expected Kentucky Oaks starters were bred outside of Kentucky, and both will be trying to buck the odds for their home programs. Desert Dawn will attempt to be the first Arizona-bred to win the filly classic, while Venti Valentine could be just the second New York-bred to win the race as it is renewed for the 148th time. Santa Anita Oaks upset winner Desert Dawn was one of just 97 Thoroughbred foals born in Arizona in 2019, from 20,433 foals in North America, according to statistics from The Jockey Club. The filly, from the first crop of Kentucky sire Cupid, is out of the winning Arizona-bred Ashley’s Glory and races for her breeder, H and E Ranch. Churchill Downs does not keep detailed birthplace statistics of Oaks starters, but an Arizona-bred has not started in the Kentucky Derby since the track began keeping those statistics in 1966. Busher Invitational winner Venti Valentine, runner-up in both the Demoiselle and Gazelle, was bred by Final Furlong Racing Stable and Maspeth Stable. She now races for Final Furlong, in partnership with Parkland Thoroughbreds. The filly, by another Kentucky stallion in Firing Line, is out of the winning New York-bred mare Glory Gold. The only previous New York-bred winner of the Kentucky Oaks recorded by Churchill Downs was Buryyourbelief in 1987.