Shedaresthedevil has target in Indiana Oaks

Shedaresthedevil will be favored in the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks on Wednesday evening at Indiana Grand, but she might have to catch Miss T Too to win it.

Miss T Too stretches out from a pair of sprints to this 1 1/16-mile two-turn trip for trainer Bill Mott, who won the 2018 renewal of the Indiana Oaks with Overture. Martin Garcia is named to ride Miss T Too, whose post-time odds could fall well below her 15-1 morning line.

Shedaresthedevil seems reasonably priced at odds of 9-5 for trainer Brad Cox, jockey Florent Geroux, and owners Qatar Racing and Flurry Racing. She comes into this contest off a six-length, front-running allowance score at Churchill Downs, but it’s her stakes-winning form over the winter at Oaklawn, where she captured the Grade 3 Honeybee, that suggests she’s a strong fit for the Indiana Oaks.

Shedaresthedevil wound up leading last time but won the fast-paced Honeybee from a stalking position, and Geroux likely has no appetite for a pace battle with Miss T Too.

Miss T Too, a Stoneway Farm homebred by Into Mischief, won a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park in March, beating Envoutante, who is marked for the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes this Saturday. On May 16, Miss T Too finished second at Churchill to the talented Four Graces, and last out she set a fast sprint pace that left her enervated at the eighth pole and fading to finish second. That fast-paced sprint should sharpen Miss T Too for Wednesday’s race, and the short homestretch at Indiana Grand should suit the filly’s style.

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Meanwhile, jockey Julien Leparoux’s three-race Indiana Oaks winning streak is in jeopardy because the horse on which he was named, Tempers Rising, could start in the Ashland instead. Trainer Dallas Stewart on Monday said a final decision on where Tempers Rising would race would come Monday night or Tuesday. Tempers Rising was second in the Fair Grounds Oaks and appeared to be colicky, Stewart said, after a poor allowance-race showing last out at Churchill. She does her best work through the final half-mile and would appreciate a strong early and middle tempo.

Ken McPeek trains leading 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver as well as Envoutante, and has potentially live price horse Impeccable Style for this race. Impeccable Style appears to be a progressive filly with a pressing or stalking style that could land her a favorable trip from post 4.

Fire Coral, another price horse, had a terrible trip in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn before turning in a dull performance last out at Churchill. Bayerness, too, merits consideration, having beaten Swiss Skydiver last fall. She makes her second start at 3 and could move in from post 10, pending scratches. So, too, could Gibberish – drawn in 11 – a pace player coming off a big sloppy-track win at Gulfstream.

Aurelia Garland will be coming out of this race, having run Sunday in the Iowa Oaks.

The Indiana Oaks offers 34 qualifying points to the Kentucky Oaks, distributed 20-8-4-2 to the top four finishers.

‘Warpath’ stuck wide

She’sonthewarpath looks like the best filly in the $75,000 Indiana General Assembly Distaff, and she’ll need to be to win this 1 1/16-mile grass race from post 12.

She’sonthewarpath won the $100,000 Ta Wee Stakes over this turf course last summer, but was to some degree undone breaking from post 10 in the $200,000 Indiana Grand Stakes last September. But She’sonthwarpath is a better horse now than then. Trained by Steve Margolis, she won two six-figure Fair Grounds turf stakes over the winter facing stronger foes than Wednesday’s, and she most recently finished fourth, beaten less than one length, in a strong renewal of the Grade 3 Mint Julep at Churchill. Chantal Sutherhand is tasked with working out a trip from the wide draw.

Hanalei Moon finished second in this race a year ago and can be considered a contender if one draws a line through her 14th-place Mint Julep finish. Amazima got a perfect trip winning an allowance race over this course last month, while Maryland invader No Mo Lady could have untapped turf upside.

‘Dakota’ gets Maker-over

What trainer Mike Maker has done better than any horseman in North America is claim older turf horses and win stakes races with them.

Maker and owner Michael Hui claimed Hay Dakota for $62,500 on June 3 at Belmont and stand a good chance of reaping a quick return Wednesday in the $75,000 Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial.

Seven-year-old Hay Dakota, who started his career in Chicago with trainer Joel Berndt, has been the subject of several high-end claims, and merely repeating his most recent performance, a close fourth behind the talented Chad Brown-trained colt Value Proposition, makes him a player in this 1 1/16-mile turf race.

Maker has a second horse, Grand Journey, racing first after a claim, but Hay Dakota possesses the stronger big-picture form.

First Premio got the wrong trip on the way to a poor performance last out in a high-end Churchill allowance.

◗ Strong Tide is a solid play in the $75,000 open division of the Hoosier Breeders’ Sophomore Stakes for Indiana-bred 3-year-olds. The female-restricted division of the race will have Copper Nickel as a strong favorite, but Wellington Wonder is capable of an upset.