By Christie DeBernardis
Conditioner Victoria Oliver captured the first Grade I victory of her 16-year career last season when Personal Diary (City Zip) won the GI Del Mar Oaks. She looks to score her second win at the highest level in Saturday's GI Delaware H. with Frivolous (City Zip), who is owned and bred by her father and prominent businessman G. Watts Humphrey Jr.
“I think she is doing really well,” said Oliver, who runs a 40-horse stable at Keeneland with her husband and fellow trainer Philip Oliver. “I think she will appreciate the distance. I think the further the better for her. It will be whether she takes to the Delaware racetrack and the ship [from Keeneland.”
Despite several failed attempts at the graded level, Oliver always had confidence that Frivolous belonged. The dark bay finally proved Oliver right with a 19-1 upset of last November's GII Falls City H. at Churchill Downs.
“I have always had a lot of confidence in this filly,” the trainer remarked. “I think she has had very compromised rides in the past where she hasn't been able to get into her stride, but I think in the Falls City everything finally worked out for her. I have always had high hopes for her.”
Frivolous was given a brief freshening following that victory and made her seasonal bow in a Keeneland allowance, where she finished sixth to the reopposing Fortune Pearl (Mineshaft), who captured the GII Delaware Oaks last year. The 5-year-old made her first attempt at Grade I company next out in Churchill's GI La Troienne S. May 1, and finished a well-beaten ninth.
“She came back with a temperature the next day,” Oliver said of her charge's La Troienne effort. “She just wasn't herself. It got really hot that afternoon and it had been cold all week. I think she just had a problem acclimating to the heat. I'm not sure what happened in that race. I just kind of had to write that one off and go on to the next.”
The mare proved to be no worse for wear next out when blowing up the tote at odds of 32-1 in the GII Fleur de Lis H. in Louisville June 13, and has been pleasing her trainer in the mornings leading up to this test.
“I was very happy with her performance in the Fleur de Lis,” Oliver commented. “I think she is training great. Unfortunately, we have had a lot of very bad weather in Lexington. I think it has rained almost every single day. I'm thankful Keeneland still has the Polytrack on the little track because it's been tough training this past month, but she hasn't missed a beat. She has gotten all her works in, so we just have to hope for the best.”
Oliver also trained Frivolous's dam Sixty Rocketts (Belong to Me), who is another of her father's homebreds, but the conditioner does not see many similarities between the two.
“They don't really have a lot in common,” Oliver said. “Both are quite strong training fillies. They train strong and aggressive. But, Frivolous is a big, huge mare and the mother is tiny. They have very similar heads, but personality wise they are not alike at all. Frivolous is very, very sweet and Sixty Rockets wasn't quite as sweet.”
As for future plans for Frivolous, Oliver is taking the wait-and-see approach for now.
“If she runs a great race there is the [GI] Personal Ensign H. at Saratoga, but thats putting another ship in again which I am not sure I am crazy about,” she remarked. “There is a stake at Churchill in September [the Locust Grove S.], which I ran in last year. We will see how she runs here and go from there.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
