Kentucky Oaks

Multiple Grade I winner and last year's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) will be offered this fall at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Hunter Valley Farm will consign the 4-year-old filly on behalf of owners Qatar Racing Limited, Flurry Racing Stables LLC, and Big Aut Farms. A graded stakes performer each year from two to four, Shedaresthedevil is a three-time Grade I winner and seven-time graded stakes winner of $2,291,458. Last year at three, she defeated the best of her generation to win the 146th Kentucky Oaks in the...

The official "Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve," will begin Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs with the GIII Iroquois S., has been unveiled with a new proviso that horses under the care of suspended trainers will not be awarded points in the Derby prep races. Effective Sept. 30, points from any race in the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" will not be awarded to any horse trained by any individual who is suspended from racing in the 2022 Kentucky Derby or any trainer directly or indirectly employed,...

Shadwell Stable's undefeated Malathaat (Curlin), last seen winning the GI Kentucky Oaks Apr. 30, turned in a four-furlong work in :49.96 (22/36) over the dirt training track at Belmont Park Sunday ahead of an expected tilt at the July 24 GI Coaching Club American Oaks. "She went great. I'm really pleased with the way she's doing," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "She worked well with a big, strong gallop out. We'll probably have one breeze at Saratoga and she'll be ready to go." Also working from the Pletcher barn was WinStar...

Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), taken off the GI Kentucky Oaks trail with a knee chip following a visually impressive score in the GIII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita Feb. 6, is aiming for a return to Hall of Famer Richard Mandella's barn later this summer with an eye on a fall campaign. "The surgery went well," said Joe Mishak, MyRacehorse's Racing Operations Manager. "She's been doing great, filling out and looking really good. Just biding her time, which is standard operating procedure [following surgery], especially for the Mandella barn....

Undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) will make her next start in Saratoga's GI CCA Oaks July 24 instead of the June 5 GI Belmont S., which was initially under consideration following her Apr. 30 GI Kentucky Oaks victory. The long range goal for the regally bred filly is the Breeders' Cup in November at Del Mar. "Todd [Pletcher] and I have talked and have elected to bypass the Belmont," Shadwell's Rick Nichols said. "She is a little light right now because she is still growing into the frame that...

Godolphin's Adventuring (Pioneerof the Nile) rides a two-race win skein as she tries to add her first graded victory in Friday's GII George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico. Second choice on the morning line at 4-1, the homebred hit the board in her first two starts--both off-turf tests--at the Fair Grounds late last season. Well supported in her Feb. 16 reappearance at the New Orleans oval, the daughter of dual Grade I winning Questing (Hard Spun) came from just off the pace to romp by 6 1/2 lengths...

Malathaat (Curlin), the undefeated filly who is coming off a win in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, could go next in the June 5 GI Belmont S. "It has crossed our minds," Shadwell Farms Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols said of the Belmont. "One issue would be whether or not we could get John Velazquez. If Medina Spirit (Protonico) wins the [GI] Preakness Stakes., obviously John will have to choose him for the Belmont. No one would blame him for choosing that horse." Nichols said a final decision...

There's been a lot of attention, rightfully so, on Bob Baffert in the wake of his record-breaking seventh GI Kentucky Derby conquest Saturday. But John Velazquez made a little history of his own under the Twin Spires this weekend, becoming just the eighth jockey ever to win both the GI Kentucky Oaks and Derby in the same year. Wednesday, the Hall of Fame rider joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by J.P. Morgan Private Banking and Keeneland to talk Malathaat (Curlin), Medina Spirit (Protonico), his approach to race-riding, potential plans...

Fresh off a Derby-Oaks double, Eclipse Award-winning jockey John Velazquez joined this week's Writers' Room to talk on his rides aboard Malathaat and Medina Spirit and share his experiences as a leading jockey and respected mentor.

The runners from Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks appeared to exit the event in good order, with winner Malathaat (Curlin) "Excellent" Saturday morning according to trainer Todd Pletcher. Pletcher later added of Shadwell's five-for-five 'TDN Rising Star': "You'd like to think with a filly like her you can be thinking Breeders' Cup. But we've got a long way to go before we get there." Narrow runner-up Search Results (Flater) was also no worse for wear the morning after. "We checked her out this morning and she looks fine," conditioner Chad Brown...

LOUISVILLE, KY - His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is smiling somewhere tonight. Shadwell Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) outslugged Search Results (Flatter) by a neck in a battle of unbeatens in a GI Kentucky Oaks for the ages Friday at Churchill Downs. It was another 2 3/4 lengths back to Will's Secret (Will Take Charge) in third. Sheikh Hamdan, who campaigned countless champions and Classic winners across the globe, passed away at 75 in late March. "A million things have been going through my mind," Shadwell...

LOUISVILLE, KY - Beautiful spring weather, enthusiastic racing fans dressed to impress and the GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. This, of course, wasn't the case last year, far from it, as the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down and forced both the GI Kentucky Oaks and Derby to be held spectator-free over Labor Day weekend. Masks, temperature checks and social distancing are more of the norm these days as limited crowds of between 40,000-50,000 (40-50% reserved seating, 60% premium dining areas and...