DANCE AWAY CAPOTE - The Bourbonette Breeders' Cup winner galloped a mile and one-half this morning under exercise rider Leigh Offutt. Trainer H. Graham Motion is expected in from his Maryland base Tuesday afternoon. "She's going along very well," said Dave Rock, assistant trainer to Motion. "She hasn't missed a step. She can be a little flighty sometimes, so we're taking her out a little later in the morning after the action has settled a bit." John Velazquez will ride the gray Pandora Farms color-bearer in Friday's Oaks.
GALLANT SECRET - The Elkhorn Oaks Inc.'s homebred Gallant Secret walked the shedrow at trainer James Jackson's barn at Keeneland a day after working five furlongs in 1:04 over the training track. "She came out of the work perfect," said Jackson of the Menifee filly, who will be ridden in the Oaks by Mike Smith. Jackson will bring Gallant Secret to Churchill Downs on Friday morning.
"I just want to keep her at Keeneland because there is a lot of excitement this week at Churchill Downs," Jackson said. "I know she likes the track at Churchill, because she ran well there last year." Gallant Secret finished second in last year's Three Chimneys Juvenile on Derby Day against the colts.
IN THE GOLD - The Live Oak Plantation's In the Gold galloped Sunday morning at Keeneland with exercise rider Jorge Abreu up. Rafael Bejarano has the mount on In the Gold, who will be attempting to give Live Oak a shot at a rare Oaks/Derby double. Her stablemate, High Fly, is slated to run the next day in Derby 131 for trainer Nick Zito. It has been 53 years since the same owner/trainer duo has swept the Oaks and Derby, last accomplished by Ben Jones for Calumet Farm with Real Delight and Hill Gail in the 1952 Oaks and Derby, respectively. The feat has been accomplished two other times: Jones for Calumet in 1949 with Wistful and Ponder, and in 1933 when Col. E.R. Bradley's Barn Swallow won the Oaks and Brokers Tip won the Derby for trainer H.J. Thompson.
MEMORETTE - Betty Currin's California-bred Memorette, expected to be one of the longshots in Friday's renewal of the Kentucky Oaks, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 this morning after the renovation break under jockey Joe Deegan.
"She finished strong," said Ignacio Correas, assistant to trainer Bill Currin, "so I'm happy. She loves this track and gets a hold of it very well." Currin is due to return to Kentucky from California on Tuesday.
Memorette, a stretch-runner, hasn't been worse than third in four outings this year, including a second to filly champion Sweet Catomine in the Santa Anita Oaks and a third behind three-year-old filly division leader Sis City in the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland three weeks ago. Late in 2004, she won the California Breeders' Championship for fillies at Santa Anita.
RUGULA - Fantasy Stakes (GII) runner-up Rugula jogged a mile and visited the paddock at Churchill Downs with exercise rider Bobby Warren up before the renovation break. Trainer Grant Forster said the Bernstein filly would gallop in the morning and school at the gate.
Sunday marked the first day back at the track for the filly, owned by Al and Saundra Kirkwood, since working a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.60 on Friday. "I couldn't be any happier with how she came out of the work," Forster said. Greta Kuntzweiler, who has ridden the filly in her three 2005 starts, has the Oaks assignment.
RUNWAY MODEL- Dr. Naveed Chowhan's filly galloped her customary two miles this morning after the renovation break with Georgia Jackson in the irons. Trainer Bernie Flint remains confident that Runway Model, winner of the Grade II Golden Rod under the twin spires last fall, will be a serious player in the Oaks.
"The last I looked, she was the highest-earning 3-year-old filly still out there in training," Flint said of his $713,598 earner. "I've never run a horse in the Oaks or the Derby - and there's a good reason: You don't need to be here unless you think you can win it all." As for Runway Model's toughness and durability, Flint quipped, "She's made of titanium." Patrick Valenzuela will be aboard for the first time in the Oaks.
SIS CITY- The daughter of Slew City Slew, expected to be the favorite Friday, had her final breeze for the Kentucky Oaks Sunday morning, drilling 5 furlongs in 1:02 with Michelle Nevin aboard.
Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., who came in from New York to oversee the work, left immediately afterward for Belmont. He plans to return to Churchill Downs on Wednesday.
Sis City is working on a three-race win streak, including the Ashland and Davona Dale this year. She won the Florida race by 16, and whipped a good field at Keeneland by 10 ? lengths last out. Owned by Stonerside Stable and Sanford Goldfarb, Sis City had her first work at Churchill Downs on April 24 and drilled 6 furlongs in 1:14.40.
SUMMERLY - The Fair Grounds Oaks heroine enjoyed an easy gallop this morning with exercise rider Carmen Rojas in the saddle. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC, Summerly's final Oaks tune-up remains up in the air, according to Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. "I haven't decided yet," Blasi said when asked if Summerly would have a final Oaks Week breeze.
