Oh My Oh brings turf breeding to statebred allowance

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Quinn Howey has been eager to get Oh My Oh onto the turf, and finally gets that chance on Thursday at Del Mar. Oh My Oh makes her turf debut in her 12th career start in the day’s feature race, an optional claimer for California-bred females in which she figures to be a moderate price.

Oh My Oh, 3, will be taking on older runners for the first time in the one-mile event – race 6 on the seven-race card – including a trio of mares entered for the $20,000 claiming price. Oh My Oh, who has her first-level condition, has been facing open company in recent starts, so the drop into a Cal-bred spot potentially offers some relief.

Then again, she’s making her first start outside of the Bay Area, and on a new surface. There’s plenty for handicappers to weigh. But the most intriguing aspect of Oh My Oh is her pedigree. She is a full sister (Comic Strip out of the Tribal Rule mare Oh the Joy) to Lavadia, who was an allowance winner and stakes-placed at Golden Gate for Howey and co-owners and breeders William and Jill Gray.

“She was pretty good on the turf,” Howey said of Lavadia. “This filly should handle it just fine.”

Howey attempted to run Oh My Oh in a grass race at Golden Gate in May, but weather forced it onto the main track. She has been training at Golden Gate, but was part of a four-horse contingent Howey was shipping south this week.

“It seems like a good spot, trying Cal-breds,” Howey said.

To prevail, Oh My Oh will have to down nine rivals, most notably Opus Won, who was second in a similar one-mile Cal-bred allowance race on June 14 at Santa Anita. The winner of that race, Lostintranzlation, came back to romp at Del Mar in the finale on Sunday.

“She’s doing good. She’s going to be tough,” Richard Baltas, who trains Opus Won, said Monday.

Opus Won is making her third start off a layoff. She beat maidens on May 12 at Santa Anita in her first start in five months.

“She needed to mature,” Baltas said of the layoff. “We’re being rewarded for it. You do the right thing for the horse, you get rewarded.”

Sedamar, third behind Lostintranzlation and Opus Won on June 14, returns to turf after finishing well back in the Melair on dirt on June 23.

Battleground State, who is in for the $20,000 claiming tag, is taking a significant drop after facing open first-level allowance runners in her last five outings. This is her third start since a 10-month layoff.