THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY DIARY
MARCH 16, 2006
by Jennifer Caldwell
BALANCE (Thunder Gulch), WILD FIT (Wild Wonder) and DIPLOMAT LADY (Forestry)
all hooked up for the second straight time this year in Sunday’s
Santa Anita Oaks (G1), with the former getting the victory over her rivals yet
again.
To simplify things, let me just talk about each horse separately, beginning
with Balance. The David Hofmans trainee has now finished first in all but one of her
career starts, with her lone blemish coming in the Hollywood Starlet (G1) in her
final juvenile start. The bay miss was never able to get the lead that day
from Diplomat Lady, eventually having to settle for second by a half-length.
On Sunday, she extracted a measure of revenge for that loss despite running wide
down the backstretch, around the turn and into the stretch. She’ll be one of the
favorites for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) off Sunday’s easy score.
Wild Fit and Balance both tied for the second lowest price during Pool 2 of
the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager, with the only other single-digit odds belonging
to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Folklore (Tiznow) and the mutuel
field. Wild Fit gave a good run on Sunday, utilizing her now familiar late run
to just miss at the wire. It was the fourth second for the gray filly, and trainer Patrick Biancone said he’ll decide in the next few days on whether Wild Fit will go
next in the Ashland S. (G1) on April 8 at Keeneland or just wait until the Kentucky
Oaks on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
Diplomat Lady has the most experience of the three fillies by one start. She
didn’t show much in two starts after winning her career debut, but came
back to life after a small break to take an allowance and then added the
Hollywood Starlet S. (G1). She proved in
those two starts that she does her best running on the front-end, but she was never
able to get to the early lead on Sunday.
One filly who shouldn’t be overlooked from this race is runner-up QUIET KIM
(Real Quiet). The bay filly has now
recorded nine starts, with the Oaks being her stakes debut, and she could
breakthrough at any time with a black-type score.
Two weeks ago, TEAMMATE (A.P. Indy) burst onto the Kentucky Oaks scene
with a dominating six-length victory in the Bonnie Miss S. (G2) at Gulfstream
Park. The H. Allen Jerkens trainee seems to like to win by huge margins, taking
her maiden by 8 3/4 lengths, but that and the Bonnie Miss are her only two wins
to date. She could continue to improve
WAIT A WHILE (Marai’s Mon) was third in the Bonnie Miss, just missing second
by a head. She’s a another who likes putting some distance between herself and
others at the wire, scoring her maiden on the green by five lengths before
capturing the Miss Grillo S. by 6 1/2 lengths in her stakes bow. Two races
later, she pulled off another huge win with a 14-length score in the Davona Dale S. (G2), which came over Teammate. Another rivalry could be brewing
if these two continue to hook up.
Despite taking all but one of her starts, MIRACULOUS MISS (Mr. Greeley) was
sent off at 18-1 in the Forward Gal S. (G2) on March 5 and scored in the
seven-furlong test from off the pace by 1 3/4 lengths. Her only non-winning
start came over a sloppy track, so a fast surface is clearly important to the
chestnut filly. Her victory came at the expense of MISTY ROSETTE (Stormin
Fever), who was bringing an unbeaten race record into the event. Misty Rosette
had every opportunity to win, taking the lead by the half-mile point, but wasn’t
able to hold off Miraculous Miss or runner-up INDIA (Hennessy), who managed to get a
half-length up on her at the line.
Coming up this weekend, the six-furlong Cicada S. (G3) will offer the female
sophomore division yet another short run to the wire, but the main feature looks
to be the 8 1/2-furlong Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs.
On Sunday, turf fillies will line-up in the Herecomesthebride S. (G3) at
Gulfstream Park.