Oeuvre’s third chance to cross the million-dollar earnings threshold comes Sunday at Hawthorne in the Third Chance Stakes, in which Oeuvre seeks a three-peat. Oeuvre, after winning this race the last two Mays, surely goes off a lower price than her 2-1 morning line in Hawthorne’s featured fifth race. Ouevre’s career is probably winding down, and there’s little doubt she’s lost a couple steps, but the Third Chance is a mere $50,000 race, and while it once seemed Oeuvre performed best in turf sprints, the three fastest races among her last nine have come on dirt. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Oeuvre has been a win machine since owner-breeder Richard Perkins turned her over to trainer Chris Block for her 2022 campaign. A one-time winner from six starts during her 2-year-old season of 2021, Oeuvre has since captured 17 of 30. She’s 7-6-0-1 going the Third Chance’s six furlongs and is 8 for 8 at Hawthorne since moving into Block’s barn. Last September, returning from a two-month break, Oeuvre looked about as sharp as ever, blitzing Illinois-bred dirt-sprint stakes foes with a blowout win while earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure. She has not hit that level since, though Oeuvre, on Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds, won an off-turf renewal of the $100,000 Nelson Menard Memorial. That boosted her career earnings to $993,886, but Oeuvre finished fourth and fifth in two subsequent starts, earning a total of $6,000 that leaves her $14 shy of millionaire status. Oeuvre, who carries 125 pounds and gives the competition between four and six pounds, ought to get a favorable off-the-pace trip under Jareth Loveberry. Five of her six rivals have a TimeformUS early pace figure of 100 or higher, and three – Managing Mischief, Gray Lightning, and Sharp Hero – come in with an early pace figure between 118 and 125. Sharp Hero, drawn outside the other speed, figures to take back a touch for a clean pressing trip. She and Purr Sea, respectively first and second, separated by a head in an April 22 Fairmount Park allowance, look like Oeuvre’s main competition. Seven-year-old Sharp Hero raced just four times during 2024 but did hit an 87 Beyer in her season finale in November, and might have lacked the same level of fitness that Purr Sea, who had started in February, brought to their Fairmount contest last month. Six-year-old Purr Sea twice beat Ouevre when the horses were 2-year-olds, but since has lost to her twice and, like Oeuvre, is not getting any faster. Four-year-old Pennsylvania-bred Gray Lightning makes her Hawthorne debut. Gray Lightning was purchased by NR Club at a digital auction in April 2024 for $370,000, a hefty sum for a daughter of Social Inclusion and Fairy Gray, a Cat Thief mare. Gray Lightning, bought on the strength of a 95 Beyer the month before her sale, won a Pennsylvania-bred allowance by a wide margin in her first start for NR Club, but in June finished a fading third in the Jersey Girl at Saratoga. She wasn’t seen again until this winter, showing up at Will Rogers Downs for a new trainer, Armando Hernandez, and topping out at a 74 Beyer so far this year. Hernandez for several years has been a Hawthorne staple. So is Oeuvre, who tries Sunday for her third Third Chance. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.