Kentucky Oaks

GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) both returned to the worktab Saturday at Churchill Downs. GI Preakness S.-bound Authentic covered five panels in :59.20, the fastest of 38 works at the distance. With jockey Martin Garcia aboard, the bay clicked off splits in :23.80 and :35.40, galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.20. "It went very well. Martin has been with me," said trainer Bob Baffert, who came to Louisville from the Keeneland Sale in Lexington. "He knows what I expect. I told...

As far as marketing for a nascent, unorthodox racehorse ownership venture goes, you couldn't do much better than a horse carrying your silks into the Churchill Downs infield as the GI Kentucky Derby winner. That's what Michael Behrens experienced Saturday, as Authentic (Into Mischief), bought into by his MyRacehorse microshare partnership in June, fought off favored Tiz the Law (Constitution) past the Twin Spires to earn the garland of roses. Wednesday, Behrens joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to...

Heavy favorite Gamine (Into Mischief)'s stiffest competition in Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks figured to come from a daughter of Daredevil--just not 15-1 Shedaresthedevil, who led home a one-two for her exported stallion over second choice Swiss Skydiver. The Flurry Racing Stables LLC, Qatar Racing Limited and Big Aut Farms representative covered the nine furlongs at Churchill Downs in an Oaks record of 1:48.28 (Bird Town, 2003, 1:48.64). The winning margin was 1 1/2 lengths, with the same margin back to 7-10 Gamine in third. Trainer Brad Cox and rider Florent...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-CD, $97K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 11:30 a.m. ET Gary Barber and Baccari Racing Stable's SALTY AS CAN BE (Into Mischief) opens her account in this sprint, the second event on a star-studded GI Longines Kentucky Oaks day card at Churchill. Bought for $850,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, the bay is a half-sister to Salty (Quality Road), who won the GI La Troienne S. over this track for these connections in 2018 before selling for $3 million to Don Alberto at Fasig-Tipton November. Other interesting firsters...

OXO Equine's Mundaye Call (Into Mischief) may not be ready to face the big girls in Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks, but the progressive bay will look to punch her ticket for a date with the top fillies of her class in the near future as a looming short-priced proposition on the undercard in the GII Eight Belles S. Bought for the hefty sum of $950,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling, Mundaye Call was just nipped when second by a head debuting for Don Chatlos at 4-5 last summer at Saratoga....

Adrian Gonzalez was possibly just humoring his wife Erin when he trudged up the hill through the snow at Keeneland on the last day of the November sale in 2017, but the hike proved fruitful when the couple came home with Expo Gold (Johannesburg) for just $13,000. The mare was in foal to Daredevil and the filly she had already produced that year by that same sire would go on to become Grade I winner Swiss Skydiver. While Expo Gold has changed hands three times since the November sale, the...

With the racing and sales calendars turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, buyers at the upcoming Keeneland September Sale and Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase will have a unique opportunity. Typically, the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks--as well as the rest of the Triple Crown trail for that matter--are long over by the time the major yearling auctions take place. But with those marquee sophomore races pushed back to the first weekend in September, buyers could have a chance to purchase a sibling to this year's Derby or...

Four months after its initial date, the GI Kentucky Oaks is finally upon us and the race promises to be one of the best renditions ever of what has become the most important 3-year-old filly race on the calendar. This may be a two-horse race, but it is a two-horse race between two fillies, Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and Gamine (Into Mischief), who appear to be among the best of their generation. Superiority will be settled on the racetrack With Swiss Skydiver and Gamine dominating the competition throughout the late spring...

It could be quite a Derby week for Spendthrift Farm and its owner B. Wayne Hughes. Spendthrift has never won a Triple Crown race but is in solid position in this year's GI Kentucky Derby with two starters it co-owns, Authentic (Into Mischief) and Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile). It could also be a huge couple of days for Spendthrift's white-hot stallion, Into Mischief. He will be represented by 'TDN Rising Star' Authentic in the Derby and by the freakishly fast 'Rising Star' Gamine in the GI Kentucky Oaks. Hughes...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables' GI Ashland S. victress Speech (Mr Speaker)--third in the TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10--drilled a half-mile in :47.60 (XBTV video) beneath exercise rider Osman Cedeno over the Churchill Downs main track Friday morning, her final major work ahead of the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4. Working by her lonesome in the 7:30-7:45 a.m. window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks horses, the Mike McCarthy trainee galloped through an opening quarter-mile in :24 flat and pulled up five furlongs in 1:00.20. It was the...

Keeneland's drive-thru betting will be open Friday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Sept. 5 to accept wagers on the GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Kentucky Derby, as well as the rest of the races on those two days from Churchill Downs. Drive-thru betting will be located behind the Keeneland Entertainment Center, which can be accessed via Gate 1 at Man o' War Boulevard. All patrons will complete a health screening and temperature check at Gate 1. The drive-thru betting will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with six windows...

'TDN Rising Stars' Gamine (Into Mischief) and Improbable (City Zip), each victorious in Grade I company at Saratoga in their most recent appearances, tuned up for their next engagements at Del Mar Saturday morning. Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine, towering winner of the GI Longines Test S. Aug. 8, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 (XBTV video) in the company of her stakes-winning stablemate and fellow 'Rising Star' Quality Response (Quality Road). With Juan Ochoa in the saddle, the $220,000 Keeneland September yearling turned $1.8-million Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sales topper was timed...