Pretty Mischievous comes out of Kentucky Oaks in great shape
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was business as usual at trainer Brendan Walsh's Churchill Downs barn on Saturday morning, with the trainer on horseback accompanying several sets to the track in the early, shortened training hours on Derby Day. But it wasn't quite usual in the shed row, with Pretty Mischievous relaxing in her stall behind her winning blanket of Kentucky Oaks lilies.
"I don't think so, no," Walsh said when asked if the victory, his first in the filly classic, was sinking in yet. "I think it will after the weekend. Pretty surreal."
Pretty Mischievous, a Godolphin homebred, earned a career-high 92 Beyer Speed Figure as she held off Gambling Girl by a neck in the Oaks. She was wearing blinkers for the first time as Walsh looked to correct her tendency to wait on horses. The filly was in good order after her strong effort, the trainer reported.
"Everything seems good with her," Walsh said. "She cooled out great last night, she seems great this morning."
Walsh said "we don't have anything solid yet" in mind for Pretty Mischievous's next start, but that "all the obvious ones" would be in play as targets.
Immediately following the Oaks on Friday night, Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin's American operations, mentioned summer Grade 1 races in Saratoga, with an eye toward the Breeders' Cup in November in California, as possible long-range targets.
Meanwhile, in the stall next to Pretty Mischievous, the "horse in today" card hung on the stall of fellow Godolphin homebred Santin. Walsh will saddle him for a repeat bid in the Grade 1, $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic. Tyler Gaffalione, who earned his first Oaks on Pretty Mischievous, will again be in the irons.
"It would be fantastic," Walsh said. "We feel we have him back doing really good again, and he loved this track last year. . . . There's still plenty of work to be done” this weekend.
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