Will's Secret seems like the class, but won't have it easy in Indiana Oaks
Will’s Secret won two stakes at Oaklawn Park and finished off her winter-spring campaign with an excellent third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks. No doubt, she’s the horse to beat Wednesday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks, but Will’s Secret is far from unbeatable.
The 5-2 morning-line favorite with Jon Court named to ride for trainer Dallas Stewart and Willis Horton Racing, Will’s Secret drew the rail in a deep, talented group that drew 11 entrants but will go with no more than 10 since trainer Ken McPeek said Forever Boss would be scratched. The 1 1/16-mile Oaks goes as race 11 on a 12-race card.
Will’s Secret was no match for Malathaat and Search Results, one-two in the Kentucky Oaks, but beat the seven others at odds of 26-1 in easily the best race of her career. Stewart won the Indiana Oaks way back in 1998 with French Braids, but Indiana Grand generally has not been kind to his stable: Overall, Stewart-trained runners are 4 for 51 at Indiana Grand, and in stakes races they have gone 11-0-2-0.
Soothsay and Lady Aces, two-three in the Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita on May 30, ship into Indiana for, respectively, trainers Richard Mandella and Peter Eurton. Mandella never has run a horse at Indiana Grand while Eurton’s lone starter, King Zachary, finished unplaced in the 2018 Indiana Derby.
Soothsay, Flavien Prat named to ride, won a soft renewal of the Santa Anita Oaks this spring and was run over late in the Summertime Oaks by Crazy Beautiful, who returned to win the Delaware Oaks on July 3. She’s drawn in post 2 while Lady Aces, who utilizes a similar pressing style, has post 9 with Umberto Rispoli named.
Neither of the California fillies have earned a Beyer Speed Figure as high as Lovely Ride, who might be bet below her 4-1 morning line. By Candy Ride out of the Tiznow mare Lovely Lil, Lovely Ride made one modest start at age 2 but has gone 3 for 3 in 2021, stepping up from a pair of Sam Houston sprints to blow out a decent Churchill allowance field May 14 in her route debut.
“I thought that was a decent group of horses she beat, and she was pretty impressive first time two turns,” said trainer Bret Calhoun. “She’s an average-sized filly but she’s bred to go on. I don’t think sprinting really was her game, but she did all right. Two turns, she gets into the race very easily.”
Li’l Tootsie might ultimately prove a one-turn horse, but Indiana Grand has a short homestretch and plays to horses who run the turns well. If Li’l Tootsie is going to win a graded route race, this might be the place and time to do it. The Tom Amoss-trained filly showed serious talent in her second-start maiden win at Fair Grounds and after a period of regression got back on track May 31 at Churchill with a convincing sprint allowance victory.
A quick, contested pace would permit Oliviaofthedesert to close into a high placing. Trainer Ken McPeek scratched her from the July 2 Iowa Oaks, an easier spot, in favor of this race. “Maybe we outsmarted ourselves, but I liked the idea of keeping her a little closer to home,” he said.
Michael G. Schaefer Memorial
Shared Sense won the Indiana Derby last July and makes his first start as a 4-year-old in the $85,000 Michael G. Schaefer, the first of six stakes races carded Wednesday at Indiana Grand. Brad Cox trains Shared Sense for Godolphin, Florent Geroux rides, and Shared Sense is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, but this is no easy comeback spot.
“It’s a tough little race for $85,000,” said trainer Grant Forster, who sends out the very live Pirate’s Punch in the one mile and 70-yard Schaefer.
Pirate’s Punch won his lone Indiana Grand start when he was an unproven young horse, and he is set to take a meaningful move forward Wednesday after finishing sixth June 12 in the Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park, his first race in more than six months.
“He ended up getting pretty tired late in that race, but he really bounced out of it great,” said Forster. “He’s acting as good as he ever has.”
Indeed, Forster has gotten two works into Pirate’s Punch since the Salvator Mile. The gelding has plenty of speed, but with other pace players in the Schaefer, he should be comfortable sitting off the lead. Jorge Vargas Jr., aboard for two wins last year, has the mount.
Exulting, trained by Mike Maker, and another Cox runner, Plainsmen, should also come in for betting support.
Schuster Memorial
Soft turf and a two-mile trip at Belmont Park didn’t work for Strong Tide, but the Indiana-bred gelding can get back on track in the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial Stakes.
Four-year-old Strong Tide came strongly to hand earlier this year wiring a Churchill Downs turf allowance in April and finishing third going 1 1/2 miles there in the Louisville Stakes. He might lack the sharp turn of foot to be especially effective in a shorter grass race like the 1 1/16-mile Schuster, but Strong Tide has positional pace, and if he can open a lead in upper stretch might be able to hold off the faster finishers.
Midnight Tea Time looks like the best among that set in the Schuster, his form perhaps slightly darkened by a fifth-place finish June 13 at Pimlico. But Midnight Tea Time rallied well enough that day into a very slow pace, and any of his last four performances puts him in win contention Wednesday.
General Assembly Distaff
Summer in Saratoga finished a distant fourth in her last race and failed to complete the course two starts ago, yet still looks like a major player in the Indiana General Assembly Distaff at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
Summer in Saratoga’s most recent race was rained off turf and the mare is nowhere near as capable on dirt as on turf, and two races ago she lost her rider when she stumbled at the start of a Keeneland allowance race. Trained by Joe Sharp, Summer in Saratoga returned from a long layoff and overcame trouble to win the $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial at Fair Grounds in March, and a similar performance would land her another victory.
Marie Hulman George
Saracosa is the likely favorite in a soft renewal of the Marie Hulman George at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, but this race is wide open and Chilean import Gran Baby could have a chance at a fair price.
“She’s a big, strong, solid filly, and I’m optimistic this is a good spot for her,” said trainer Ken McPeek. “She shouldn’t need a race whatsoever. I don’t know that she’s great, but she’s more than decent and very professional.