Might be time for Oxana in Regret

It wasn’t a dreadful trip for Oxana in the Skipat Stakes on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico. It wasn’t very good, either. A more favorable post position and better luck could help Oxana turn the tables on Olivia Darling in the $100,000 Regret Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

Those two horses are among seven older fillies and mares entered in the Regret, a six-furlong dirt contest carded as race 5, post time 2:32 p.m. Eastern.

The field includes the 2022 Regret winner, Edie Meeny Miny Mo, who went wire to wire last July 2 and won by a head. Edie Meeny Miny Mo hasn’t won since and at first glance looks like a shadow of the horse she was a year ago. That might not be the case. She was pulled up and vanned off the Colonial Downs course last August but returned in October with a competitive performance at Laurel. A poor showing on Dec. 31 at Gulfstream came without Lasix, and Edie Meeny Miny Mo was used on a taxing pace in the Skipat, where she faded to eighth in a race she might have needed for fitness. She’s come back with bullet workouts and is more appealing than Self Isolation, who will be a shorter price.

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Breaking from the rail, Self Isolation enters on a two-race winning streak since returning May 28 from a two-month freshening. Both recent victories came in soft spots, Self Isolation beating just five rivals in a high claimer at Monmouth and only four June 16 in a Laurel allowance.

My Beautiful Belle also has two recent wins over suspect rivals and shows but one race among 23 that’s fast enough to contend. Six-year-old Sweet Willemina was a five-time winner in 2023 but wants more distance, and with 42 starts can’t be expected to improve much upon recent modest form. Caliente Rum is badly overmatched.

Olivia Darling will be favored. A 4-year-old, the filly is trained by Jorge Delgado, tied for third in the Monmouth trainer standings with nine winners. Thirteen of Delgado’s 35 starters this meet have been favored; seven won. Olivia Darling easily could enhance those numbers. Delgado began training her late last year, and the addition of blinkers transformed Olivia Darling from a grinding stalker who had won once in her first seven starts to a filly with speed who since has gone 5-2-3-0. She got a nice, clean, stalking trip behind a fast pace in the Skipat and was edged on the wire by the capable Cheetara, who came latest and widest.

One length behind her in fifth was 5-year-old Oxana, third in the 2022 Regret and well drawn Saturday in post 6. Breaking from the rail in the Skipat, Oxana was bumped at the start and raced inside two horses for a furlong down the backstretch before getting in tight, brushing the rail, and being steadied back to seventh. Rallying up the fence in the homestretch, she endured one final bit of trouble when the tiring pacesetter drifted left and blocked Oxana’s path. Olivia Darling could tangle on the lead with Edie Meeny Miny Mo and Self Isolation, Oxana sitting just behind. Perhaps it’s her turn.

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