Taxed, Defining Purpose set for rematch in Indiana Oaks
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Defining Purpose is a Grade 1 winner, but Taxed is a Grade A bet to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks on Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Defining Purpose scored a 20-1 upset in the Grade 1 Ashland in April at Keeneland, but for the most part failed to validate that performance, checking in ninth in the Kentucky Oaks. Defining Purpose will need something better than that to handle Taxed, a potential rising star in the 3-year-old filly dirt-route division.
Regardless of what she does going forward, Taxed already has proven a smart $50,000 claim by owner Richard Bahde and trainer Randy Morse. Taken out of a Nov. 20 Churchill Downs maiden win, Taxed was second in the $200,000 Martha Washington on Jan. 28, took a step back over a sloppy track a month later in the Honeybee, and since has hit a much higher level. She ran into some trouble finishing a closing second behind Oaklawn’s top 3-year-old filly, Wet Paint, in the April 1 Fantasy, then rolled to an eye-catching victory May 19 at Pimlico in the Black-Eyed Susan. Left in Taxed’s wake that day were Hoosier Philly, who came back to win an Ellis Park stakes, and the highly regarded Bob Baffert-trained favorite, Faiza.
As much as the company she kept, it was Taxed’s dominant, confident final furlong and gallop-out at Pimlico that hinted at a brightly blossoming filly. Morse began racing Taxed without blinkers in the Fantasy, but the equipment change was only part of the story.
“She’s definitely gotten bigger and stronger, and she’s trained exactly like she did before the race at Pimlico,” said Morse, who has been training Taxed at Churchill Downs. “She’s just getting better. Her last two breezes before she left Oaklawn, for whatever reason, she just started working really, really good. Her work here the other day . . . the way she gallops out is just amazing to me.”
Taxed beat Defining Purpose by three-quarters of a length in the Honeybee; both fillies are faster now. Defining Purpose, in her defense, did get caught up in a hot Kentucky Oaks pace at 1 1/8-mile trip, perhaps beyond her best. She has a chance to rebound as does Merlazza, fifth in the Black-Eyed Susan after winning three straight.
“She was a little bit close to a hot pace, and she’d already improved a lot in a short time this year. It just wasn’t a favorable spot,” trainer Brad Cox said. “If she gets a good trip, she should be tough.”
Lily Poo was a decent third in the Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita last out. Beyond her, nothing but longshots. It may just be a question of what Taxed will pay.
Turf routes get strong fields
For an ungraded $100,000 stakes, the Indiana General Assembly Distaff came up a tough spot. For any kind of race, the $100,000 Jonathan Schuster Memorial came up an inscrutable spot.
The two 1 1/16-mile turf races precede the Indiana Oaks and the Indiana Derby and are part of an appealing late pick five sequence that begins with race 8.
In the Distaff, there’s a Kentucky contingent, headed by Henrietta Topham, and including Sweet Dani Girl and Justify My Love, that might be overavalued by bettors. Henriette Topham has the best recent form in that group but has done nearly all her best work at Churchill, and following two top-level performances is vulnerable to regression. Sweet Dani Girl, who easily could wind up lone speed Saturday, holds the most appeal among the Kentucky group.
Princess Theorem, who last raced at Pimlico, and Juncture, who comes out of a win in the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff at Lone Star, are the better plays.
Juncture, a Juddmonte homebred, had Group 3-level form making her first nine starts in Ireland. Her American debut came at Keeneland, where she stood in her starting stall for a good second after the gate sprang. Beaten at the break, Juncture finished fastest when sixth in that third-level allowance race, and with blinkers added, cruised to an easy win over suspect competition in the Ouija Board.
“I’m not going to say she’s a graded stake horse, but she’s training better now than when we went to Texas,” trainer Brad Cox said. “She was very in and out working at Keeneland; much, much better at Churchill.”
Princess Theorem exits a good fourth in the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico, where she was right in the thick of things at the sixteenth pole before wilting a bit in the final strides. No shame there. Whitebeam, who won the Gallorette, was described as a potential Grade 1 filly by trainer Chad Brown. Runner-up Sopran Basilea came back to win the Robert Dick last weekend at Delaware Park, while third place Bipartisanship subsequently captured a Pennsylvania-bred turf stakes.
Anything could happen in the 11-runner Schuster, which lacks real pace and has four horses cutting from races at least 1 5/16 miles long. In Love will win this race if he can come close to his best form, but in his most recent start, the Maker’s Mark Mile three months ago at Keeneland, he was a lackluster eighth. Trainer Paulo Lobo doesn’t have a definitive excuse but said In Love could have been harboring a virus when he raced.
“He came out of the race with a low white blood cell count. He has been training well and he’s going to have class relief. I think he’s going to do well,” Lobo said.
Gentle Soul makes sense but for the fact all his top performances have come at Fair Grounds and he’s drawn wide. Gallant Guy might be the lone speed at a big price.
Michael G. Schaefer Memorial
Masqueparade came within a couple lengths of Grade 1-class Art Collector last summer at Saratoga, and if he can come anywhere near that level Saturday, he can win the $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer Memorial.
Masqueparade won the 2021 Ohio Derby, but following his second to Art Collector in August, he was away from the races until May. Masqueparade surely needed his comeback run, and in the Blame Stakes, he was stuck behind a wall of horses at the quarter pole.
He’s one of 10 entered in the Schaefer, which could have Promise Keeper as a tepid favorite. Promise Keeper set a strong pace and held second in a high-end Ellis Park allowance race last month, but races without Lasix on Saturday.
The Schaefer’s sister race, the $100,000 Mari Hulman George, came up soft this year. Hearty Constitution merits solid favoritism in a nine-runner field.
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