ELMONT, N.Y. - Only two fillies from last month's Kentucky Oaks moved on to the next Grade 1 race for the 3-year-old filly division, the $500,000 Acorn Stakes on Friday afternoon at Belmont Park. Those two fillies found themselves eye to eye in deep stretch, with Oaks heroine Pretty Mischievous prevailing by a head over Dorth Vader to take control of the division. "I'm just so proud of her," said Tyler Gaffalione, who has been aboard Pretty Mischievous in six of her eight starts. "She's really developed into an amazing filly. She seems to just be getting bigger and stronger with each race. I can't wait for the day she finishes out one of her races. She gets to the lead and she kind of waits. “She just has so much talent, I don't think we've seen the best of her yet." Trainer Brendan Walsh put blinkers on Godolphin homebred Pretty Mischievous ($5.80) to improve her focus for the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks after the filly finished second in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in March, a race in which she led in the stretch but was overhauled late. The result was a neck victory at Churchill Downs. The next target became the Acorn - a race lengthened slightly this year from its usual mile to a mile and a sixteenth, but still run around one turn on the massive Belmont Park oval. Walsh had no qualms about cutting the filly back to one turn for the first time since she won her first two starts last year. :: DRF Belmont Stakes Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. "I loved this race for her," Walsh said. "Even before the Oaks I kind of had it in my mind that this race might suit her because of her natural speed. So when she came out of the Oaks so good, it was a no-brainer." Flashing her own natural speed in the Acorn was Munnys Gold, who won her first three starts by a combined 38 lengths before finishing second by a hard-fought head in the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. Munnys Gold, sent away favored in the Acorn while racing beyond seven furlongs for the first time, bounded away from the gate and led through an opening quarter of 23.34 seconds and a half in 46.37 seconds while hounded by previously unbeaten Goodgirl Badhabits. Pretty Mischievous was fifth after the opening half, about two lengths back and clear on the outside, with Gaffalione trying to be patient with his mount. "Honestly, if I would have used her, I could have been right there, maybe even fighting for the lead," Gaffalione said. In upper stretch, Dorth Vader moved up to challenge for the lead outside Munnys Gold but soon thereafter Pretty Mischievous edged clear to a half-length lead outside horses. Dorth Vader dug in gamely but Pretty Mischievous kept her focus all the way to the wire to score another Grade 1 victory. “She does idle a little bit,” Walsh said. “I think she arrives there so easy, and I think she does idle a little bit, and let that other filly come back and have a go at her. But she got the job done, that’s the main thing, and she beat some very, very good fillies today, as she did in the Oaks.” Pretty Mischievous's Beyer Speed Figure was 96. The final time for the 1 1/16 miles on a track rated fast, with light rain showers falling immediately postrace, was 1:43.33. Dorth Vader, a Grade 2 winner in Florida earlier this year, was fifth in the Kentucky Oaks after pressing the pace. The Acorn was her first start for George Weaver after previously racing for Michael Yates. "She fought hard," jockey John Velazquez said of Dorth Vader. "I think she got a little bit surprised by the horse outside of her. But she put in a really good fight. She's got a lot of heart, and she showed that today all the way to the wire.” :: Get ready for summer racing with a DRF Formulator Quarterly PP plan After Pretty Mischievous and Dorth Vader, it was four lengths back to Occult, who came on to be third by a half-length over a fading Munnys Gold. They were followed, in order, by Accede, Randomized, Frosty O Toole, and Goodgirl Badhabits. Walsh indicated he will carefully monitor Pretty Mischievous's condition and energy level, as she has had two hard races in a row, but he and Godolphin have long expressed interest in the summer Grade 1s at Saratoga as targets for the filly. The Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles is set for July 22, followed by the Alabama at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 19. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.