Soothsay likely headed to Kentucky Oaks

ARCADIA, Calif. – Soothsay emerged from her win in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks in such fine condition that trainer Richard Mandella was cautiously making plans to test the filly in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on April 30 at Churchill Downs.

Soothsay is unbeaten in two starts – a maiden special weight race at six furlongs for 3-year-old fillies on Feb. 26 and the $392,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles. The $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks is run at 1 1/8 miles and will pit Soothsay against more experienced fillies.

Soothsay, who races for the partnership of Claiborne Farm, Adele Dilschneider, and Ramona Bass, seems to have learned a lot in her brief career in advance of the Kentucky Oaks.

“Right now, that’s what we’re thinking about,” Mandella said Sunday. “It’s a possibility. I asked a lot of her to do this.

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“We’re not going to keep her from it. If she trains as good as she ran, we probably will go. This morning, she looked pretty good.”

Soothsay ($10.40) looked just fine in the $392,000 Santa Anita Oaks against three rivals, closing on the rail in the stretch and holding off a sustained threat from 9-10 favorite Beautiful Gift, another candidate for the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks.

“She ran like a professional horse,” Mandella said of Soothsay. “She’s always worked like a runner. She’s got a lot of things going for her.”

Mandella said Soothsay is sharp mentally.

“Fillies, often after the first race, get a little hot-blooded, and she settled down and it did her some good,” he said.

Beautiful Gift won the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 7 in her stakes debut.