Classy Act heads Oaks field

Monomoy Girl was the 6-1 near-favorite in the Kentucky Oaks futures pool that closed March 11. Classy Act? She was 51-1. There almost certainly is less separating the two fillies than the gulf between their Oaks futures, and similarly, the 2 1/2-length victory Monomoy Girl scored over Classy Act last month in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes isn’t entirely representative.

Classy Act laid down a wicked pace in the Rachel Alexandra, while a poor start and back-ofthe-pack trip actually worked in Monomoy Girl’s favor. With Monomoy Girl skipping Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks in favor of the Grade 1 Ashland next month at Keeneland, Classy Act is very much the filly to beat.

On paper, there’s only one horse among eight opponents who might trouble Classy Act, provided she holds form. That’s Eskimo Kisses, whose breakout last-start allowance win at Oaklawn Park might have been influenced by a wet track.

Classy Act, despite slowing considerably after her strong exertions during the early and middle portions of the Rachel Alexandra, convincingly defeated Fair Grounds Oaks entrants Wonder Gadot (who was third in the Rachel Alexandra), Patrona Margarita (who was fourth), Testing One Two (fifth), and She’s a Julie (sixth). Testing One Two is cross-entered Saturday in the $75,000 Crescent City Oaks, where she’d be favored.

Besides Eskimo Kisses, three horses that didn’t start in the Rachel Alexandra will try the Oaks. America’s Tale scored blowout wins in a Churchill Downs maiden race and a Fair Grounds allowance race late last fall before coming out of a bad loss in the Jan. 13 Silverbulletday Stakes a sick filly. She makes her first start since the illness, and while contending is a big ask, America’s Tale does have speed.

Chocolate Martini will need to use her pace to get position from the outside post. She makes her stakes debut and probably isn’t quite good enough, but was flattered when the filly she beat in a Feb. 18 allowance race, Haynesfest, returned with an easy win. Saguaro Row has done little to suggest she has much chance.

The Oaks, contested at 1 1/16 miles, is carded as race 10 with a scheduled post time of 4:41 Central.

KEY CONTENDERS

Classy Act, by Into Mischief Last 3 Beyers: 87-79-71

◗ Trainer Bret Calhoun has been working to get Classy Act to relax, but a comfortable rating trip went out the window in the Rachel Alexandra when Classy Act broke a step slowly and rushed to the lead. Her halfmile in 46.83 seconds and threequarters in 1:11.80 both were more than a second faster than the fractions two races later in the Risen Star Stakes.

◗ Classy Act drew the rail, which doesn’t thrill Calhoun, but she continues to look like a filly on the rise. She has two easy wins and her last-start second since adding blinkers, and once a somewhat indifferent workhorse on her own, Classy Act has been breezing with alacrity in recent weeks.

Eskimo Kisses, by To Honor and Serve Last 3 Beyers: 92-74-74

◗ Wouldn’t have looked like a player in a race like this until she buzzed home an 11 1/2-length winner of a firstlevel allowance Feb. 22 at Oaklawn Park. The track was sloppy that day, and Eskimo Kisses hugged the rail throughout the two-turn race, slipping through along the inside at the three-sixteenths pole before really turning on the jets. The rail has been golden on certain wet days at Oaklawn, but there’s not clear evidence that was the case Feb. 22.

“She’ll run on anything,” said trainer Ken McPeek, asked if a sloppy track had moved up Eskimo Kisses. “She really wants a mile and a sixteenth, even a mile and an eighth. She’s a really large, strapping filly with a big stride, but she’s also got a bit of a turn of foot. She’s getting better, and this is a good next step for her.”

◗ Eskimo Kisses raced without Lasix last out, in part because Oaklawn offers a 10 percent purse bonus for horses running without the antibleeder medication, and she’ll be off Lasix again Saturday.

◗ Florent Geroux picks up the mount.

Wonder Gadot, by Medaglia d’Oro Last 3 Beyers: 85-76-78

◗ Had every chance to pass a slowing Classy Act in the Rachel Alexandra but fell 1 1/2 lengths short.

◗ Has raced once a month since August, and while she is a solid and capable filly, it’s hard to see her suddenly improving given that form pattern.