The CCA Oaks – Grade I
1 1/8 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $500.000 Filly 3 Year Olds.

1st Elegant Mb Stables Sanchez M J

With the slow early pace it was important to be close to the pace and this is the filly that won the pace lottery as she was put to the front end after a few furlongs and then quickened up off the bend to put enough daylight on the others to hold on. Reading this fillies form its hard to find a definitive answer as to why she won today apart from this was a carbon copy of her win in the Trillium which saw an almost identical run from the filly to win. She was one of the ones before the race who was in the hopper and certainly had the ability to run this sort of race and win so its not exactly a shock result although there was plenty of support for the fillies behind her. This should be enough to see her in the BC and then who knows with the right set of circumstances she could win again.

2nd Cannolo D J C Racing Stables Franco M

They went slower in this race than they did in the mud of the KYO so the key here was when this horse was taken forward by the race engine from the wide gate and then pulled back to stalk the slow pace. When the winner started running a couple of furlongs out Cannolo was caught flat footed and then although she was gaining the ground back in the run to the post she was unable to get back in time as the last three furlongs was run in the same time as the first three. On a different day with a different pace i am pretty sure this filly would have her turn at winning but she will no doubt get into the BC and then it will be a different story again.

3rd Blue Caviar Waldo Lermyte J

Considering she was taken back off a very slow pace she did amazingly well to get within one length of the winner and this may have been the run of the race. With a bit of luck from the pace lottery she will pick up a decent race before the end of the year.

4th Tenrikyo Smokey Stover Alvarado J

In the muddy KYO they covered 4 furlongs in 48 and 2, in this dry CCA Oaks they covered the first 4 furlongs in 48 and 3 and there you have exactly why this horse finished fourth. Taken back as she normally is she never had a chance and ended up making up ground to be some three lengths behind at the end. A different day with a different pace and this is a different race completely so the trainer shouldnt be too disappointed.

SUMMARY
A Race decided by the pace of the race just exposes how poor the in -running AI is in the game at the moment. If you guess the instructions right you win and once those gates open nothing can change the result not even the jockey. Mb Stables guesses right too many times for it to be luck so congratulations once again to the champion for their uncanny ability to read a race.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES