The Fantasy – GII
$1,000.000 For Fillies Three Years Old
1 1/16 Miles – Dirt
Oaklawn Park – March 27, 2026

Five weeks until the KY Oaks and the picture is crystalizing as to who will likely qualify to be in the gate and who the main contenders might be. Exciting made it very clear with her win in The Fantasy that you can comfortably put her down in both of those categories if you are keeping track. We are: 

Winner: Exciting (Maxmillion Farm/ D.E. Centeno) Blaze Ahead/Furlough (Residue) At the top of the stretch it looked like she had left herself with too much work to do. Zifi had opened up and it looked like Three Sixes had gotten the jump on her by moving first. Somehow Exciting found another gear and won going away by a length. She is now a neck away from being on a six-race winning streak. The 100 KY Oaks qualifying points earned for the win puts her atop the standings as of this writing with 125 total points. 

Second: Three Sixes (Pan Farms/R. Bejarano) Cherokee Thriller/Three Sixty Five (Day Of Destiny) Sat well back nearly last early and seemed to be the main closing threat to pacesetting Zifi after making her move around the final turn but could not hold off the winner’s closing charge. Good effort from a very consistent quality filly who is always in the mix at the wire. The 50 Oaks points earned put her in third place with 96 total points. 

Third: Zifi (Mb Stables/J.R. Velasquez) Zionist/My Fiona (Zigmund) It looked like she had it stolen. Went out to the front at the break from her inside post and led the field through a very moderate first half. Came into the stretch in front by open lengths and was running strongly and looked hard to catch. She was but they did. The 25 Oaks points earned places her in eighteenth place with 41 total points. 

Fourth: Boardwalk Beauty (Riggins Racing/P. Lopez) Boardwalk Empire/Grand Allure (Grandeur) Finished well enough to gain a check and Oaks points in her stakes debut but never threatened the top three at any point. Earned 15 Oaks points with this finish and stands in thirty-seventh place with 15 points total. 

Fifth: Space Haggis (TwinTowersRacing/S.X. Bridgmohan) Starship Haggis/Space Force Five (Shark Force) Was able to earn the last spot for the Oaks points being offered but never threatened for the top spots finishing five lengths behind the winner. Earned 10 Oaks points for this fifth-place finish and currently ranks 45 in Oaks qualifying with 10 total points.

Preview Pick: Wants It All – 2025 two year old champ threw in a rare sub par effort finishing sixth.

Race Note: Hot Bobbygum showed early speed to clear the field from her outside post but struggled home eighth and last. Sadly, sources from the Oaklawn Park backstretch report this morning that post race complications led the barn to make the tough decision to euthanize the three year old daughter of Racing Plate. 

Exciting earned her first graded stakes victory with this win. She has now won five of her seven lifetime starts and has to be considered one of the favorites for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in five weeks. The $600.000 winner’s share of the purse raises her career earnings to $835.800. This was the first Fantasy win for both Maxmillion Farm and jockey D.E. Centeno.

Having noted in previous articles that Exciting had been offered for sale early in the year in a  $3.000.000 package deal with stablemate and Kentucky Derby contender Reciprocal Rubber, I reached out to the barn for comment. Maxmillion was obviously happy with this win as well as with Reciprocal Rubber’s stakes win last weekend. It might not be on par with the luck of the Secretariat coin flip but it might be very fortuitous come early May that both of these sophomores had no takers.

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES