Tarifa vs. Our Pretty Woman round two likely in Kentucky Oaks

Tarifa and Our Pretty Woman, separated by three-quarters of a length in a respective one-two Fair Grounds Oaks finish Saturday, are set for a rematch in the Kentucky Oaks.

Both fillies appeared Sunday to have come out of the race in good condition, and both will arrive at Churchill Downs in coming days.

Tarifa was making her fifth start without a real break after debuting in October at Keeneland and has a solid foundation now to navigate a six-week break into the Oaks. Tarifa, who won Saturday despite racing too keenly in the early stages, earned a career-best 95 Beyer, improving on the 90 she got winning the Rachel Alexandra Stakes last month, and is looking like a potential Oaks favorite – unless her Brad Cox-trained stablemate Impel blows up in the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland.

Our Pretty Woman debuted Jan. 18, winning an off-turf maiden route over a wet track and coming back Feb. 17 with a wet-track first-level allowance win. In the Fair Grounds Oaks, she set a solid pace and dug in gamely when Tarifa challenged her. Our Pretty Woman’s Beyer Speed Figure pattern now stands at 71, 82, and 93.

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“She had two races where everything went her way, and yesterday she had a hard race,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “I was very proud of how she handled it, and she should have a chance to move forward off that. She’ll be at Churchill, and we will be putting her under consideration for the Oaks.”

While Track Phantom did not quite run to expectations, the Asmussen barn generally had a strong Saturday at Fair Grounds, with Gigante finishing second in the Muniz Memorial and Red Route One capturing the New Orleans Classic. Red Route One earned a career-best 101 Beyer, capitalizing on a strong pace at the nine-furlong distance he needs for his best.

“He’ll go to Churchill,” Asmussen said. “That was the race we had circled for the winter at Fair Grounds. You can see what a difference the mile and an eighth makes for this horse. If it’d been a mile and a sixteenth, he’d have been third again.”

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