Southlawn gains Kentucky Oaks spot with Fair Grounds Oaks win
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Southlawn swept past the favorites and onto the Kentucky Oaks trail with her first stakes victory Saturday in the Grade 2, $376,000 Fair Grounds Oaks on the Louisiana Derby undercard at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
Ridden by Reylu Gutierrez, the leading jockey at a 2022-23 meet that ends Sunday, Southlawn raced near the rail on both turns of the 1 1/16-mile Fair Grounds Oaks before angling out for her winning bid when set down for the drive. She paid $17.40 as fourth choice in a field of five 3-year-old fillies after finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.38 over a fast track and getting an 86 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I wanted to save all the ground that I could,” Gutierrez said. “The way she’s been working, the way she’s been prepared, I knew that once I saw the clear that’d she burst through – and she did.”
Southlawn, trained by Norm Casse for Robert Masterson, clinched a berth into the Kentucky Oaks with her 3 1/4-length triumph. A total of 200 qualifying points toward the May 5 filly classic were at stake, with 100 going to the winner.
Southlawn, a Kentucky-bred by the late Pioneerof the Nile, was coming off a breakthrough eight-length romp in a Feb. 17 allowance at Fair Grounds. She had finished no better than fifth in each of her three prior starts.
“We’ve been really excited to run her,” said Casse, who worked for years as an assistant to his father, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, prior to starting his own stable in 2018. “She’d just been training so well down here.”
During his tenure under his father, the younger Casse worked closely with the first-ballot Hall of Fame turf mare, Tepin, owned by Masterson. The Fair Grounds Oaks sets up a potential matchup at Churchill Downs between Southlawn and the reigning champion in the current crop of 3-year-old fillies, Wonder Wheel, trained by Mark Casse.
“I was actually with my dad in Ocala,” said Norm Casse, “and I said, wouldn’t it be something if he’s got Wonder Wheel and I have Southlawn, and we’ll sort it out on the track.”
Christian d’Oro, the longest shot in the field, set the pace in the 56th Fair Grounds Oaks with the 6-5 favorite, Hoosier Philly, breathing down her neck. Into the final turn, Hoosier Philly took a short-lived lead, but then Pretty Mischievous, the 13-10 second choice, wrested clear command as they straightened for home.
Down the stretch, Southlawn blew past a tiring Hoosier Philly, then had no problem with Pretty Mischievous, who easily held second when another 3 3/4 lengths clear of The Alys Look in third. Hoosier Philly and an eased Christian d’Oro completed the order.
Pretty Mischievous, winner of the Untapable and Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra earlier in the meet, earned 40 points and also has easily made the Kentucky Oaks cutoff. The same cannot be said for Hoosier Philly, who now has followed three scintillating efforts to begin her career with two duds, having finished a distant third behind Pretty Mischievous in the Feb. 18 Rachel Alexandra.
The $2 exacta (1-3) paid $36.40 and the $1 trifecta (1-3-4) was worth $48.20.
The Fair Grounds Oaks has been a major producer of Kentucky Oaks winners in recent decades, with a remarkable eight fillies having pulled off the double from 1997 (Blushing K.D.) to 2014 (Untapable).
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