Slim stakes pickings this Saturday, something that will not be said again until April 26. We’ll try to scrape something together. Whitmore The score stands at Tejano Twist 4, Miles Ahead 0, but I’ll guess Miles Ahead finally takes the measure of Oaklawn sprint kingpin Tejano Twist. These two hardly rate as the only plausible Whitmore winners. Happy Is a Choice might have suffered slight second-back regression in the King Cotton, but this horse, from this vantage point, looks maxed out and will prove a half-notch inferior even at his best. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Giant Mischief has the Brad Cox patina to him but might’ve peaked in the second and third starts of his career – way back in autumn 2022. It took Booth 16 months to run back to his debut showing two falls ago at Keeneland. Is it prudent expecting him to repeat that peak three weeks after hitting it? With other serious speed – Glengarry if no one else – opposing him? Closethegame Sugar twice defeated Tejano Twist last year, but that came during the heart of Closethegame Sugar’s form cycle. He needed his first race after his last break, and I suspect he’ll also need this one, his first since Sept. 24. Tejano Twist and Miles Ahead first squared off at Oaklawn in the 2023 King Cotton, won in a romp by Gunite. Miles Ahead finished 1 3/4 lengths behind runner-up Tejano Twist over a sloppy track I’m not sure Miles Ahead really liked. Seven weeks later, they met in the Whitmore, a strange showing from Miles Ahead, who took a good early stalking position but strangely came totally off the bridle past the half-mile pole. Fading through the field, Miles Ahead looked like he’d finish last; instead, he found stride again before the five-sixteenths pole and finished just as well as Tejano Twist, who, as usual, never lost momentum rallying widest. Tejano Twist ran down Miles Ahead in the 2023 Bet On Sunshine, a fast-paced affair that set up for a deep closer. In the 2024 King Cotton, Miles Ahead barely lifted his hooves over another sloppy Oaklawn strip. Tejano Twist again won the King Cotton on Jan. 25. Miles Ahead scratched after getting stuck at Fair Grounds during the historic New Orleans snowstorm. That’s fine: Miles Ahead now is the far fresher horse. He starts for the first time since running a career best beating the seriously fast colt Montalcino in the Thanksgiving Classic. His trainer, Paul McGee, has put together his best Fair Grounds season. Miles Ahead, despite his age, might never have been better. He gets first run on Tejano Twist – and, for the first time, beats him. Virginia Oaks Normally, I’d eschew a horse like Fondly. I like her just fine, but with Irad Ortiz Jr. climbing aboard for Graham Motion and the filly showing promise in her one start and facing moderate opposition here, she’s likely to be overbet. I’ll still tab her for lack of better options on the day. Fondly, in her lone start, broke a touch slow from the rail but had enough speed to take a good position just behind the leader. Her jockey tried to slip between the pacesetter and the fence at the five-sixteenths pole and didn’t get through. The official chart says “steadied,” but her trouble was more significant than that. Undeterred, Fondly regrouped, came outside, mowed down the leaders, and won going away. Now, she has a favorable outside draw in a one-turn route that should prove well within her scope. Her brother Antiquarian won the 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan, and Fondly, with all the upside in this field, should take a step Saturday toward the Kentucky Oaks. Jimmy Winkfield I have no strong sense of how good this gelding Saxton might be. To his credit, he battled back after being headed last out at Laurel and nipped a horse named Slam Notion, who, for what it’s worth, had earned an 81 Beyer in his start before and got a 79 in the one after. I do know how good trainer Brittany Russell is with first-claimed horses like Saxton. Very. Russell has gone 13-7-3-1 over the last year with horses claimed out of their last start. For the last five years, she’s won with 17 of 46 such runners, and over that span, horses claimed and coming back in allowance or stakes competition have gone 15-4-1-2. Saxton already looks fast enough to win the Winkfield. And he’s about to get faster. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.