Turnback gives Search Results slim edge in Acorn
Obligatory ran well enough to win, Dayoutoftheoffice too good to lose, in the seven-furlong Eight Belles on Kentucky Oaks Day. Two races later on April 30 at Churchill Downs, Search Results ran too good to lose going 1 1/8 miles in the Kentucky Oaks. Those three – as well as the highly regarded Travel Column – meet in the middle on Saturday at Belmont Park, in a one-turn mile, the Grade 1 Acorn, that is short on numbers but long on talent.
Only six entered the $500,000 race, but any reasonable evaluation would rank these as six of the top 10 3-year-old fillies in the country right now. The two others are Make Mischief, a late-running third in the Eight Belles, and the speedy Miss Brazil, who gave Search Results all she could handle in the Busher back in February.
The Acorn goes as race 5 on the marathon 13-race card.
Search Results suffered the first loss of her four-race career in the Kentucky Oaks, but it was a terrific performance, as she fell a neck short to unbeaten divisional leader Malathaat while well clear of the rest of the field while earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 95.
“We expected her to run a really big race in the Oaks,” said her trainer, Chad Brown. “It was a super effort. Unfortunately, she was second best. Fortunately, she survived a tough stretch duel in good order.”
Search Results has won at distances ranging from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles.
“The cutback is fine,” Brown said. “I think she’s good at a mile, whether it’s one turn or two. A mile to a mile and an eighth is her range.”
Search Results drew well, landing the outside post in the field of six. She should get an ideal stalking trip under Irad Ortiz Jr., aboard her for three of her four starts to date.
Travel Column, winner of the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in March when earning a career-best Beyer of 90, was a shorter price than Search Results in the Kentucky Oaks (7-2 vs. 5-1), but faltered late and wound up fifth, the race shape working against her front-running style. Her trainer, Brad Cox, thinks the cut back will suit.
“I really do like it,” Cox said. “She’s a filly that’s built more like a miler than a mile-and-an-eighth filly. I do think from a physical standpoint she’ll handle shortening up.”
Travel Column drew the rail and figures to be forwardly placed, but won’t have the lead. That will belong to Dayoutoftheoffice, who turned in a remarkable performance in the Eight Belles, her first start since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was close to a brutally hot pace (21.89 seconds for the quarter, 44.46 for the half), surged to the front at midstretch, and was run down late by Obligatory. John Velazquez takes over for the first time and will try to ration that speed.
Obligatory was the beneficiary of the pace meltdown in the Eight Belles, as she rallied from last in a 12-horse field while earning a Beyer figure of 93, a career-best. That performance was a decided improvement over her lone try at two turns in the Fair Grounds Oaks, in which she finished fourth, 7 1/2 lengths behind Travel Column.
“We thought we had a nice filly going to New Orleans, but she was very green,” said her trainer, Bill Mott. “Going two turns for the first time, it was almost like she was a little confused. Backing her up to seven-eighths last time worked out well, and this is a one-turn mile.”
Make Mischief ran on decently enough in the Eight Belles, earning a career-best Beyer of 88, though she was no threat late to Obligatory nor Dayoutoftheoffice.
Miss Brazil, brought along in conservative fashion by Tony Dutrow, makes her graded stakes debut after crushing overmatched allowance rivals going 6 1/2 furlongs on April 23 at Belmont. Her lone try going as far as a mile resulted in her being second, a half-length back of Search Results, in the Busher. The pace that day was more in her favor than the Acorn appears. Dayoutoftheoffice and Travel Column are another level of front-running rivals.