Liora does everything but win in big Kentucky Oaks effort

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There are two annual graded stakes for 2-year-old fillies in the fall at Churchill Downs. Last fall, both were won by Churchill-based fillies, with Serengeti Empress romping in the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes in September and Liora narrowly claiming the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes in November.

Both fillies went on to winter at Fair Grounds, crossing paths in a pair of graded stakes, and both turned in bullet works after returning to their old Kentucky home. And on Friday evening, Serengeti Empress and Liora went one-two in the culmination of that prep series, the Kentucky Oaks.

"We had a clear shot at her," Liora's trainer, Wayne Catalano said. "I was getting a little excited."

Catalano's son-in-law, Channing Hill, who has been aboard Liora in all but one of her starts, also had that fleeting feeling of impending victory.

"I thought I had it," Hill said. "We just rolled up there. I really thought [Serengeti Empress] would come back to me today. I knew my filly would be game. But that other filly didn’t take a step back at all."

Liora also hasn't taken a step back. In addition to her Golden Rod victory, the filly was second in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra, won by Serengeti Empress, and the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. Her strong performance in the Kentucky Oaks serves as a happier memory for Catalano, Hill, and owner Coffee Pot Stables, who two years ago teamed up with Farrell in the filly classic. Farrell was sent away as the second choice off wins in the Golden Rod, Rachel Alexandra, and Fair Grounds Oaks but faded to last after racing in third early. This time, the pressure was off.

"We’re just kind of having a good time," Annette Bacola of Coffee Pot Stables said earlier in the week. “With Farrell ... we went in as one of the favorites, so we were really kind of nervous about it and tense.

“But Liora, she may surprise a few people. She’s tough, and she’ll run no matter what.”