After Immersive capped an undefeated 2-year-old campaign by capturing the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Del Mar, many thought trainer Brad Cox and owner/breeder Godolphin might have a future Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner in the Cox barn.
And now they do—except the Oaks winner isn't Immersive; it's Good Cheer, another Cox-trained unbeaten runner owned and bred by Godolphin, the international Thoroughbred racing and breeding powerhouse founded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
With Immersive missing competition this spring due to bone bruising, Good Cheer has filled the void, dominating the division this year the same way Immersive did in 2024. Her 2 1/4-length victory in the Oaks before a crowd of 100,910 at Churchill Downs reinforced her standing as the top 3-year-old filly to race in 2025.
Cox admitted he, too, once thought Immersive might be the one to take him to the Oaks, thinking Good Cheer, a filly with a high degree of stamina, might be a one to point for a summer start at Saratoga Race Course in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama Stakes (G1).
But Good Cheer improved to 4-for-4 in taking the Nov. 30 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) late last fall at Churchill Downs, defeating a high-class group that included Quietside, and then proceeded to take both of her graded stakes this year: the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) and Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), both at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Those victories resulted in her starting as the 6-5 favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks, her longest race, and no one was stronger at the finish than Good Cheer, a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro .
"We're so fortunate that Godolphin's founder, Sheik Mohammed, has put us in the position where he's given us the resources to have a broodmare band like we have," Godolphin USA director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said. "This is a very special filly, being by one of our own stallions as well. A mare that we raised, too, in Wedding Toast. So it's been a special, special day."
She became the third filly by Medaglia d'Oro to win the Kentucky Oaks after Plum Pretty (2011) and Rachel Alexandra (2009). Medaglia d'Oro, 26, stands in Kentucky at Darley, the stallion division for Godolphin, for $75,000.
Good Cheer improved to 7-for-7 in the Oaks, becoming the first unbeaten Oaks winner since Malathaat in 2021.
Asked about her potential, Cox said, "I'm not certain of her ceiling; I don't know if there is one."
Cox won his third Kentucky Oaks after earlier success with Shedaresthedevil in 2020 and Monomoy Girl in 2018 for other clients. He calls the Oaks a top-five race on the domestic stakes calendar.
Godolphin and Saez are also dual Oaks winners, with Godolphin capturing the race in 2023 with another homebred, the Brendan Walsh-trained Pretty Mischievous, and Saez guiding the Briland Farm's Secret Oath to victory in 2022 for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
Cox, Godolphin, and Saez all have opportunities to pull off a Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby (G1) double May 3 when they compete in the Run for the Roses, all with different runners. Cox runs Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) winner Final Gambit for Juddmonte; Saez has picked up the mount on Derby longshot Neoequos; and Godolphin is represented by a pair of homebred winners in Sovereignty and East Avenue. Late-running Sovereignty, an Into Mischief colt, is likely to be the strongest supported of these at the mutuel windows.
Medaglia d'Oro even has his chance at an Oaks-Derby double. East Avenue, the front-running winner of last year's Breeders' Futurity (G1), is a son of the sire.
"We're going to see what he can do tomorrow in the Derby," Banahan said. "We can dream away tonight, anyway."
