Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Where’s My Ring shows she’s ready for distance in Oaks
After shipping cross-country to win the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct, Where’s My Ring will make a bit shorter journey to Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks on May 3, trainer Val Brinkerhoff said Sunday.
Brinkerhoff said Where’s My Ring will stay in New York for about a week before shipping to Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks.
“I’ve got to fly back to California and get all our equipment,” said Brinkerhoff, who noted that he used all of trainer Rudy Rodriguez’s equipment while the filly was stabled in New York. “I’ll be waiting for her when she gets to Churchill. I got a couple of 2-year-olds I’m going to try and ship out there and try to run at Churchill.”
Brinkerhoff picked the Gazelle for Where’s My Ring over the Fantasy on March 30 at Oaklawn or Saturday’s Santa Anita Oaks because he thought his filly would prefer the 1 1/8 miles of that race over the 1 1/16 miles of the other two races. The Kentucky Oaks is run at 1 1/8 miles.
Where’s My Ring finished the Gazelle strongly under Jose Lezcano, winning by 4 1/4 lengths and earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in what turned out to be the filly’s first career win in her eighth career start. She was coming out of a second-place finish to Kinza in the Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita in March.
“I thought the farther she went, the better she would be,” Brinkerhoff said. “I got a fantastic ride. He had her in perfect position the whole time, got her out, and when he pushed the button she went and she galloped out real strong. Jose said he had a lot of horse left, so that’s very encouraging for me.”
Lezcano will keep the mount for the Oaks, Brinkerhoff said.
Brinkerhoff is looking forward to the Oaks, as it will be his first time on a big stage. He said he grew up running horses with his father and brother in the bush tracks in Utah. Brinkerhoff has about 26 horses at Santa Anita and another 16 2-year-olds at a training center in Utah.
“This is quite a bit different, but it’s really exciting to get here,” Brinkerhoff said.
By finishing second in the Gazelle, Regulatory Risk earned 50 qualifying points to make it into the Kentucky Oaks field, which is limited to 14 starters. The same connections of Regulatory Risk – owner Seth Klarman and trainer Chad Brown
– also have Ways and Means, who ranks 15th on the points list after her secondplace finish in the Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 30.
On Sunday, Brown said the plan is to run Ways and Means in the Kentucky Oaks with Regulatory Risk likely pointed to something else, perhaps the Black-Eyed Susan on May 17 at Pimlico. Brown said Tyler Gaffalione will ride Ways and Means in the Oaks.
“Regulatory Risk really stepped up and ran great,” Brown said. “I hold Ways and Means in much higher regard and she has a chance to actually win the race.”
Ways and Means won her debut last summer by 12 lengths before finishing second in the Grade 1 Spinaway, a race from which she emerged with an injury.
– David Grening
Leslie’s Rose headed to Oaks
Leslie’s Rose, winner of the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes on Friday at Keeneland, “came back well” from her victory as trainer Todd Pletcher begins plotting her preparations for the Kentucky Oaks.
Leslie’s Rose, who earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 95 for her threelength win, her third victory in four lifetime starts, will remain at Keeneland for at least the coming days as Pletcher finalizes his Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks squadron in the remaining points races and makes workout and shipping plans for all of them.
Pletcher has Fierceness, who won the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 30, as the likely favorite in the Derby.
“We are trying to sort things out, and we will let the dust settle,” Pletcher said. “The Oaks and Derby horses have to be on the grounds by 11 a.m. on April 27.”
Meanwhile, divisional champion Just FYI re turned to trainer Bill Mott’s bar nat Churchill Downs on Friday evening, a few hours after running second in the Ashland to secure a spot in the Oaks starting gate based on points. Mott said post-race he was not displeased with the filly’s effort, in which she was beaten three lengths while making her first start in five months. She earned a Beyer of 89, also a career high.
Grade 1 winner Candied, who made her first start of the year in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes, emerged from her fourthplace effort in good order and has graded stakes targets this spring.
Candied, trained by Pletcher for Eclipse Thoroughbred Racing, won the Grade 1 Alcibiades last fall at Keeneland before running third, beaten less than a length, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was beaten a total of five lengths in the Ashland.
“I thought it was a tough assignment for her,” Pletcher said. “She got shuffled back and had to make up a lot of ground.”
Pletcher said the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on May 17 at Pimlico or the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga could instead be possibilities Candied who sits 21st on the Kentucky Oaks points list.
– Nicole Russo