Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) winner Tarifa and Ashland Stakes (G1) winner Leslie's Rose were pegged as the respective 7-2 and 4-1 morning-line favorites when an overflow field was drawn April 27 for the May 3 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.
The post position draw, taking place in an evening ceremony that preceded the draw for the May 4 Kentucky Derby (G1), saw Tarifa land post 8 in the 14-horse Oaks field.
Two additional fillies, Our Pretty Woman and Candied, are on the also-eligible list—leaving them only eligible to start if scratches occur before 9 a.m. Friday morning.
Post Positions for the 150th Longines Kentucky Oaks pic.twitter.com/zNri0yl3RF
— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) April 27, 2024
Godolphin's Tarifa comes off victories in historically key races heading into the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks—the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) and Fair Grounds Oaks. Flavien Prat has the mount on the Bernardini filly, who can be headstrong at times.
She is one of a pair in the race for trainer Brad Cox, a two-time Oaks winner who also starts Calumet Farm's Gin Gin (post 2), a 30-1 outsider under Florent Geroux.
Cox said he felt his two runners seemed to draw well but noted, "I feel like posts are a touch overrated. ... As I always say, I'm more interested in how they break than where they break from."
Not enthused with his filly's draw was Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher after Whisper Hill Farm's Leslie's Rose, an Into Mischief filly with three wins in four starts, drew post 14 on the far outside. "Not ideal," he said.
Outside posts in route races relatively close to a turn are often a disadvantage, owing to potential ground loss. Yet twice in the past six years, Oaks winners have started from post 14—Pretty Mischievous in 2023 and Monomoy Girl in 2018. Another winner, the speedy Serengeti Empress, won from post 13 in 2019.
Informed of this, Pletcher, a four-time Oaks winner, quipped, "I feel better already."
Irad Ortiz Jr. is aboard in search of his first victory in the Oaks.
Just to Leslie's Rose's inside in post 13 is George Krikorian's homebred Just F Y I, the reigning champion 2-year-old filly and runner-up to Leslie's Rose in the April 5 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in her first start of the year. Regular rider Junior Alvarado rides the 9-2 shot.
"She won from the 12 hole in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said of last fall's two-turn, 1 1/16-mile race at Santa Anita Park. "If we're lucky enough to get the same kind of trip, we should be OK."
Chad Brown said he was pleased by the draws for his two fillies, both owned by Klaravich Stables: Regulatory Risk (post 4, Jose Ortiz) and Ways and Means (post 11, Tyler Gaffalione). Regulatory Risk is a 20-1 longshot, while Ways and Means is the co-fourth choice in the race at 5-1 with the Kenny McPeek-trained Thorpedo Anna, drawn in post 5 under Brian Hernandez Jr.
The Oaks will be run for a record purse of $1.5 million before an anticipated crowd at Churchill Downs of more than 100,000. Post time is 5:51 p.m. ET, and television coverage will be on USA Network from 1 to 6 p.m. ET.
Churchill Downs, Friday, May 3, 2024, Race 11Entries: Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Tapit Jenallie (KY) Emmanuel Esquivel 121 Eddie Milligan, Jr. 30/1 2 2Gin Gin (KY) Florent Geroux 121 Brad H. Cox 30/1 3 3Where's My Ring (KY) Jose Lezcano 121 Val Brinkerhoff 15/1 4 4Regulatory Risk (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 121 Chad C. Brown 20/1 5 5Thorpedo Anna (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 121 Kenneth G. McPeek 5/1 6 6Lemon Muffin (KY) Keith J. Asmussen 121 D. Wayne Lukas 30/1 7 7Fiona's Magic (FL) Luis Saez 121 Michael Yates 30/1 8 8Tarifa (KY) Flavien Prat 121 Brad H. Cox 7/2 9 9Everland (KY) Abel Cedillo 121 Eric N. Foster 30/1 10 10Into Champagne (KY) Julien R. Leparoux 121 Ian R. Wilkes 30/1 11 11Ways and Means (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 121 Chad C. Brown 5/1 12 12Power Squeeze (KY) Daniel Centeno 121 Jorge Delgado 12/1 13 13Just F Y I (KY) Junior Alvarado 121 William I. Mott 9/2 14 14Leslie's Rose (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 121 Todd A. Pletcher 4/1 15 15Our Pretty Woman (KY) Joel Rosario 121 Steven M. Asmussen 15/1 16 16Candied (KY) Luis Saez 121 Todd A. Pletcher 20/1
