Special Blessing vs. Yes Gorgeous in Equine Sales Oaks

Trainer Bret Calhoun has a chance to pull a multi-state Oaks double on Friday.

A few hours after he saddles Classy Act and Patrona Margarita in the Kentucky Oaks he will shift gears to Evangeline Downs, where he sends out Special Blessing in the $75,000 Equine Sales Oaks.

The race at Evangeline is for 3-year-old fillies who have graduated from designated sales in Louisiana. It will be run over a mile.

Special Blessing and Yes Gorgeous figure to vie for favoritism in the field of eight. The Equine Sales Oaks is not restricted to Louisiana-breds, but each of its starters was bred in the Pelican State.

Equine Sales Oaks (Race 8)

KEY CONTENDERS

Special Blessing, by Flat Out
Last 3 Beyers: 59-65-59

◗ She stepped up her game in February when she made her two-turn debut at Fair Grounds. Special Blessing rallied from off the pace for a 3 1/4-length win in a maiden special weight at one mile and 70 yards, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 65. The score came after two sprint starts in New Orleans.

“We liked her from the beginning and we had to sprint her a little bit more than we wanted,” Calhoun said. “We could never get a two-turn Louisiana-bred race to go, and ended up entering a two-turn open race, and she did what we thought, ran well, won.”

◗ Special Blessing topped the Equine Sales Company of Louisiana auction of 2-year-olds in training last May. She brought $110,000 from owner Coteau Grove Farms. She will be making her fifth start Friday.

“She’s a slow-maturing filly, following her sire line,” Calhoun said. “Flat Out was a very nice horse, got better every year that he ran. With her, we’re kind of taking it slow.”

◗ Special Blessing enters the Equine Sales Oaks off a fourth-place finish to Testing One Two, a multiple stakes winner, in the $75,000 Crescent City Oaks on March 24 at Fair Grounds.

◗ Ricardo Morales has the mount from post 7.

Yes Gorgeous, by Mass Media
Last 3 Beyers: 65-70-51

◗ She won a maiden special weight last year at Delta Downs, drawing out by 15 3/4 lengths in a 7 1/2-furlong race run around two turns. She went on to run second to Testing One Two in Delta’s $150,000 Louisiana Jewel.

◗ Diego Saenz has the mount from post 8 for owner-trainer Scott Gelner.