Thrilled gives Pletcher solid contender in Iowa Oaks
Last year, trainer Todd Pletcher won the most important race of the Iowa Festival of Racing, the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap, with Golden Lad, but while Pletcher won’t start any of his nominees to the Cornhusker this year, his only runner during the festival, Thrilled, looks like the horse to beat Thursday night in the Iowa Oaks.
“She’s doing well, and I think she has a good chance,” Pletcher said.
Thrilled arrived at Prairie Meadows on Tuesday in good order, Pletcher said. She’s one of 10 fillies entered, but nine at most will run since trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday that Emmzy didn’t ship from California and will be scratched. Even without her, this is a fairly deep edition of the local Oaks, with Ready to Confess, Family Tree, Alotta Skirt, and even Marquee Miss rating more than a random chance at victory.
The 10-race card also has a supporting feature, the $100,000 Saylorville for older female sprinters. That race is the eighth, with the Iowa Oaks carded as race 9 at 9:21 p.m. Central. There’s a slight chance of showers Thursday evening, with relatively moderate temperatures forecast.
Thrilled, with Martin Garcia named to ride, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in great part because she won the $200,000 Plum Pretty at Sunland Park in March, beating Family Tree by two lengths. Initially treated like a turf horse as a 2-year-old, Thrilled switched to dirt in the Demoiselle Stakes last fall and finished second to the talented Lewis Bay before going on to capture the Plum Pretty. The typically aggressive Garcia figures to go forward from post 2 Thursday.
Baffert trained Family Tree through her last start, but when he pulled up his string at Churchill Downs, Family Tree stayed behind and went back to Wayne Catalano, who trained her for four starts last year. Family Tree and Florent Geroux are marooned in post 11 and will have to leave running, but Geroux might not want the lead since his mount has done better with a target than as the target.
Family Tree showed the way in the Plum Pretty before Thrilled ran her down, and as an odds-on favorite last out in a Churchill allowance race, she set a slow pace before being attacked and passed by Ready to Confess. Family Tree has worked twice for Catalano, who called her six-furlong drill on June 17 “a great work.”
“She had an easy maintenance half after that, and the way she’s doing, I’m very happy with her,” Catalano said.
Ready to Confess showed talent all along and finished third in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn before running what trainer Donnie Von Hemel called her best race when beating Family Tree on May 28.
“She showed some grit, and we’ve learned a little bit more about her,” Von Hemel said. “If you look at her performances, when we’ve given her ample time, she’s run good.”
Von Hemel has 12 stalls at Prairie Meadows and shipped Ready to Confess last weekend, giving her time to train over the track.
Marquee Miss won the Martha Washington Stakes on Feb. 5 like a Kentucky Oaks hopeful, but three subsequent starts have failed to produce anything like that performance. Potential excuses are attached to all of them, though, and trainer Ingrid Mason won this race last year with Sarah Sis.
But the pick is Alotta Skirt. Not only has she won two straight route races at Churchill, but she beat older horses last time in a first-level allowance after getting stopped at the quarter pole. Corey Lanerie, who rides her back, had to wait and steer to the far outside, and Alotta Skirt still got up to beat Faithfully, who came right back and cleared the condition next out. Alotta Skirt will be a fair price and should get a good trip stalking a legitimate pace.
Dr. Fager’s Gal in Saylorville
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer will be in stakes action throughout the Iowa Festival of Racing and could get things rolling right away with Dr. Fager’s Gal in the $100,000 Saylorville over six furlongs.
Dr .Fager’s Gal has lost five in a row since winning a listed race last September at Los Alamitos, but the Saylorville, which drew eight horses, came up light. Dr. Fager’s Gal showed improvement when finishing second last out in an allowance race, and as a 4-year-old with only nine dirt starts, she still has room to improve, though she does figure to be overbet.
Fioretti would win wire to wire with anything like the form she showed last fall, when she captured the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland, but Fioretti’s two starts this year were dismal, and it’s fair to wonder if the 6-year-old ever is coming back to her best.
She’sabrees won the local prep, the Prairie Rose, by almost seven lengths, but that was a career-best effort for a 7-year-old career claimer. Perhaps it will be enough if she can repeat the performance, but it’s hard to see her improving upon it.