Travel Column turns table on Clairiere in Fair Grounds Oaks

Travel Column is hitting the road, bound for Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Oaks, on a high note.

Upset by Clairiere last month in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, Travel Column asserted her superiority Saturday, beating Clairiere by 2 3/4 lengths in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks.

Over a “fast” main track that might have been slowing through a 14-race card, Travel Column posted a time of 1:42.73 for 1 1/16 miles, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. Clairiere, racing somewhat green in deep stretch, pushed past tiring pacesetter Souper Sensational to finish second behind Travel Column, just as she had last November in the Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill.

That’s where these two fillies, all being well, will next meet, in the April 30 Kentucky Oaks. Travel Column earned 100 Oaks qualifying points, Clairiere gained 40, Souper Sensational 20, and fourth-place Obligatory 10 on Churchill’s Road to the Kentucky Oaks. The Oaks field is capped at 14 runners and points determine who gets into the race if it overfills.

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Travel Column had been an even-money favorite Feb. 13 in the Rachel Alexandra but was nipped by a neck as Joe Talamo gave Clairiere a crafty ride. On Saturday Florent Geroux and Travel Column left no doubt.

Tracking Souper Sensational, racing under a tight hold about a length off the leader, through moderate splits of 24.35 and 48.64, Travel Column and Geroux came alongside Souper Sensational at the three-furlong pole, the pair racing together until the quarter pole, where Travel Column took command. Widening her lead under urging from Geroux, Travel Column opened up steadily until her jockey, looking at the video screen on the toteboard, saw that nobody could catch him and geared his mount down to the wire.

“She was a very talented filly from Day 1,” Geroux said. “She’s grown up a lot mentally as a 3-year-old. I think she can move forward, too.”

Clairiere came from the rear of the field and made a solid, steady run for second, switching leads somewhat awkwardly after passing Souper Sensational. The latter had suffered tough trips from off the pace in two earlier Fair Grounds stakes and performed much better Saturday with a front-end journey.

Fourth-place Obligatory was hard-ridden to keep pace as early as the half-mile pole, coming off the bridle and losing all position, but she found herself at the three-sixteenths pole and quietly finished with good energy. Fifth-place Li’l Tootsie, well bet at 3-1, raced within striking range at the quarter pole but lost momentum and faded to fifth at a distance likely beyond her best. Zaajel and Il Malocchio completed the order of finish; Moon Swag was an early scratch.

Travel Column, by Frosted out of Swingit, by Victory Gallop, cost owner Larry Best (who races as OXO Equine) $850,000 at auction because she was such a physical specimen, and this filly has awed Fair Grounds onlookers with her morning workouts all winter. Her sharp training had made her an even-money favorite in the Rachel Alexandra, and this time, she ran to it.

“She responded well today. I think she got a lot out of her last race,” said trainer Brad Cox, who won the 2018 Kentucky Oaks with Monomoy Girl and the 2020 renewal with Shedaresthedevil. “Horses like this, when you’re trying to get to the Derby or the Oaks, you want to see them moving forward, and she did that today.”