Oaklawn Park notes: Dixie Strike will keep racing

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Apparently, the millionaire mare Dixie Strike is not yet ready to be a mom.

The $100,000 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park last week could have been the final start of her career. But her fast-closing second to Don’t Tell Sophia has pushed back the breeding card her owner, John Oxley, and her trainer, Mark Casse, had been debating.

“She got to choose her future,” Casse said. “About the five-eighths pole, I thought, ‘Well, she’s going to be a mom.’ At the half-mile pole, I thought, ‘Maybe not.’ And at the eighth pole, I said, ‘The girl’s still got it in her!’ ”

Dixie Strike closed from 18 lengths off the pace in the Bayakoa, to finish three lengths behind Don’t Tell Sophia. The effort came one start after Dixie Strike finished sixth to that rival in the $100,000 Pippin at Oaklawn.

Casse said Dixie Strike will now be pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Azeri at Oaklawn on March 15. The race is the final local stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom on April 11.

Casse said Oxley indicated as long as Dixie Strike is “happy and healthy,” she will race for the balance of the year. Dixie Strike is a 5-year-old by Dixie Union who in 2012 won the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the $500,000 Prince of Wales at Fort Erie. She is a half-sister to Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks winner Inglorious.

Sister Ginger ‘likely’ for Azeri

Sister Ginger is proving to be a solid fit in the filly and mare ranks at Oaklawn. In her first two starts of the meet, she has run third in both the Pippin and Bayakoa, earning her best Beyer Speed Figures, an 88 and an 86. She will “most likely go back in the Azeri,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Sister Ginger, now 4, was a two-time stakes winner last year, among her wins the Martha Washington at Oaklawn. Asmussen is hopeful the filly is sitting on a strong future. He trains Sister Ginger for her breeders, the partnership of Millennium Farms and Little Brother Farm.

“I think she’s going to make an excellent older mare for us, I really do,” Asmussen said. “She had a pretty good 3-year-old season, and I think that she’s matured nicely, just like her daddy, Student Council.”

Asmussen won the Grade 1 Pimlico Special with Student Council when the horse was 6.

Coastline possible for Spiral

Coastline, one of the more promising 3-year-olds based at Oaklawn, will ship this weekend to an Ocala, Fla., training center, with his next start to be determined, Casse said. Coastline was fourth in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn last week and will be considered for the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral at Turfway Park on March 22.

“We’ll possibly look at the Spiral,” Casse said.

Coastline was the favorite in last month’s $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn and finished third. In the Southwest, he finished 10 3/4 lengths behind winner Tapiture.

“I’m not sure whether he wants to go that far or not, or if he’s not that fond of Oaklawn,” Casse said.

The Spiral will be run over a synthetic track, the type of surface Coastline won his maiden over at Keeneland. Coastline also captured the $61,800 Street Sense at Churchill Downs.

“The thing about the race at Churchill, it was super,” Casse said. “I know he has it in him.”

Casse wants to find the surface that best suits Coastline, a son of Speightstown who races for John Oxley.

Cheerful Contender, who races for Debby Oxley, won a first-level optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies Thursday at Oaklawn and may see stakes action at Turfway, Casse said. She will be considered for the Grade 3, $125,000 Bourbonette, also on March 22.

“She, too, has a fondness for synthetic,” Casse said.

Cheerful Contender was a six-length maiden winner on the synthetic track at Woodbine.

◗ Will Take Charge, champion 3-year-old male of 2013, is scheduled to ship from Oaklawn to Southern California on March 3, for the Santa Anita Handicap, owner Willis Horton said. The race is March 8.