Vertical Oak just needs clean trip in Goldfinch Stakes

Things have not gone quite right for Vertical Oak in her two starts as a 3-year-old, but with better luck, she can win her first stakes race Saturday in the $65,000 Goldfinch at Prairie Meadows.

Vertical Oak is one of eight 3-year-old fillies entered to race six furlongs in the Goldfinch, which goes as race 8 at 4:12 p.m. Central. The Goldfinch appears to have three main players in Vertical Oak, Five Star Factor, and, to a slightly lesser extent, Nineteenth Street.

Five Star Factor and Vertical Oak squared off in the Dixie Belle Stakes this winter at Oaklawn Park, and while Five Star Factor finished third, two lengths in front of Vertical Oak, handicappers should not just take that result at face value.

A fast pace in the Dixie Belle enervated the front-runners, and Vertical Oak was among them. While the speed tired, Five Star Factor ran on mildly from fifth to finish a well-beaten third. Sometimes it is the horse who works harder and earns a lower placing who is the superior animal, and that could be the case with this pair.

KEY CONTENDERS

Vertical Oak, by Giant Oak
Last 3 Beyers: 76-58-74

◗ Was a talented enough 2-year-old to win a Saratoga maiden race at second asking by nearly seven lengths last summer.

◗ Broke from the rail last out in the $150,000 Purple Martin Stakes at Oaklawn and was contesting the pace along the fence on the backstretch when the leader shifted in and forced Vertical Oak to be checked very hard. She recovered to finish a close fourth, an improvement over her 2017 debut in the Dixie Belle.

◗ Steve Asmussen trains Vertical Oak, the first foal to race produced by the mare Vertical Vision. Asmussen also trained Vertical Vision, who in 2009 scored blowout wins in the Prairie Gold Lassie and the Prairie Meadows Debutante over this surface.

Five Star Factor, by The Factor
Last 3 Beyers: 77-62-90

◗ She lacks the flashy Saratoga score, but her overall form stacks up decently with Vertical Oak’s. Five Star Factor didn’t quite stay two turns in a pair of allowance tries at Oaklawn, and she was just nipped at the wire in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race about three weeks ago at Keeneland.

◗ Trainer Ron Moquette, DRF Formulator shows, has an excellent record in Prairie Meadows stakes, 10-4-1-1 with a $4.01 ROI during the last five years.

Nineteenth Street, by Proud Citizen
Last 3 Beyers: 76-76-61

◗ The addition of blinkers in her third career start appeared to turn the filly around. She enters after a pair of dirt-sprint wins at Fair Grounds, the more recent over the talented Neil Howard-trained filly Stonetacular.