FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Saturday, May 6, 2023) – Basking in the attention of her fans, Pretty Mischievous, the winner of Kentucky Oaks 149, enjoyed her morning in trainer Brendan Walsh’s barn.
“We are very proud of what she has accomplished and it couldn’t be more special winning this for Godolphin,” Walsh said. “There are some big races that we’ll look at coming up, but no decision has been made on her next start.”
Breaking cleanly from the far outside post and piloted by Tyler Gaffalione, Pretty Mischievous made her winning move at the top of the stretch and fought off the late-flying Gambling Girl through the lane. The daughter of Into Mischief by the Tapit mare Pretty City Dancer is a Godolphin homebred, its first Oaks champion.
GAMBLING GIRL (second) – Repole Stable’s Gambling Girl, second by a neck in Friday’s 149th Kentucky Oaks, came out of the race in good order and will head up to New York in the coming week with trainer Todd Pletcher’s string.
“She was just excellent after the race,” the conditioner said. “She came out of it well.”
Pletcher has won the Kentucky Oaks four times and now run second in “The Run for the Lillies” five times. The daughter of Dialed In picked up a check for $227,500 for her efforts and now has $484,910 in earnings after 10 starts.
THE ALYS LOOK (third)/WET PAINT (fourth)/BOTANICAL (13th) – Trainer Brad Cox reported that all three of his Kentucky Oaks runners were doing well Saturday morning although he had not had time to fully evaluate them yet. The Alys Look and Wet Paint, the favorite, finished third and fourth respectively, while Botanical was 13th, her first loss in her past five starts.
“So far so good,” Cox said. “They all came back sound. I have zero clue where we’re going next. Botanical looked like she got a bad break. I really expected her to break well and be close. Wet Paint was fine. No real excuse. I thought The Alys Look ran well. Just a little disappointing when you have the favorite and don’t get the result you want.”
DORTH VADER (fifth) – John Ropes’ Dorth Vader was back at Barn 41 Saturday morning following her fifth-place finish in Saturday’s Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI).
“We enjoyed our time here in Kentucky and are proud of her,” Michael “Bo” Yates said.
FLYING CONNECTION (sixth) – Brad King, Randy Andrews, G. Chris Coleman, Jim Cone, Suzanne Kirby and Lee Lewis’ Flying Connection, the pacesetter in Friday’s Oaks, came out of the race fine and is slated to get a break.
“She is leaving today and will go to a farm for three weeks and then go to Ruidoso Downs (in New Mexico),” said Oscar Rojero, exercise rider and assistant to trainer Todd Fincher.
DEFINING PURPOSE (seventh) – Trainer Kenny McPeek said his filly, owned by Magdalena Racing, Collette Marie Vanmatre and James Ball, came out of the Oaks in good shape after finishing seventh.
“She is fine in the barn, eating well, with no problems,” McPeek said at his barn Saturday morning. “We’ll nominate her to the Delaware Oaks, the Indiana Oaks and Iowa Oaks. Then we’ll see which one best suits her.”
MIMI KAKUSHI (eighth) – Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum’s Mimi Kakushi is scheduled to leave Monday and return to Dubai and rejoin the string of trainer Salem bin Ghadayer.
Mimi Kakushi received a ground-saving trip under Mickael Barzalona just behind the leading trio until the far turn where she began to give way.
WONDER WHEEL (ninth) – After finishing ninth in Kentucky Oaks 149, D.J. Stable’s Wonder Wheel returned to the barn doing wonderfully.
“She came back great, cooled out, had playful energy,” David Carroll, the assitant trainer for Mark Casse, said. “She took a bump out of the gate, but she never ran.”
Connections are still deciding what is next for the champion 2-year-old filly from 2022.
SOUTHLAWN (10th) – Trainer Norm Casse reported all was well with Southlawn Saturday morning after the Oaks.
No immediate plans have been laid out for her next start.
AFFIRMATIVE LADY (11th) — AMO Racing USA’s Affirmative Lady is scheduled to go to Keeneland on Sunday and then head to trainer Graham Motion’s main based at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland later in the week.
“She is good this morning,” said Alice Clapham, Motion’s longtime assistant. “Johnny (jockey John Velazquez) said she broke well yesterday but then found herself at the back going into the first turn somehow.”
Breaking from post 13, Affirmative Lady shied from horses to her inside going into the first turn and was last in the field of 14 after a half-mile and never threatened.
PROMISEHER AMERICA (14th) – The day after finishing in the back of the Kentucky Oaks pack, Hoffman Thoroughbreds, Tom McCrocklin, and Medallion Racing’s Promiseher America enjoyed her morning grazing in the clover pasture outside her barn.
“She is doing great,” Rodrigo Montecino, the assistant trainer for Ray Handal, said. “She broke good but at some point decided she didn’t want to run her race.”
The Gazelle winner will head back to New York as connections figure out her next start.