LAPN Matron
$125.000 For F&M Four Years Old And Upwards Foaled in LA
5 Furlongs – Dirt
Delta Downs – February 7, 2026
It is always nice to see State Bred races fill as it can sometimes be a struggle, especially if it is not a marquee state like New York, Kentucky or California. The struggle is demonstrated by the fact that this is the seventh running of the LAPN Matron since 2012. Seven times in fifteen years and this is the first time the race will be run since 2023. The smaller states with stakes offerings throughout the year provide opportunities that are going untapped in general, but five owners are taking advantage of the LAPN Matron and the small field size to try to get some money in the bank and some black type on the resume of their fillies and mares.
1. Miss Organa (Alydar Stables/J. NavMarin) To say that this Alydar homebred mare has been handled with kid gloves would be an understatement. She will be making her fifth career start and her first stakes effort in this race. She raced once in 2023 and once in 2024 (undefeated that year) before ramping up to running twice last year. She has two wins in four starts, so she has been spotted well and maybe she is a late bloomer who has blossomed and is ready for this. She has shown speed in her races but that is route speed, and this is her first time going less than seven furlongs. Her works look sharp, but she is an unknown quantity.
2. Miss LaLune (Xcel Racing/D.Cohen) She is very familiar and very comfortable racing against her fellow Louisiana Breds and has come close to winning a couple of LA Bred stakes races in her career. She already has black type this year having finished in a dead heat for second with Touch Of Oak (in post four) in the Wright Memorial in January. She is a sprinter through and through so she will like the five furlongs. She has finished first or second in ten of her twenty starts so she enjoys the battle and she figures to be right there at the end of it.
3. Oeuvre Rain (T Boy Racing/A.E. Birzer) T Boy Racing homebred is kind of the Queen of Louisiana with twelve of her eighteen races having been in LA Bred stakes races. She has come home with the crown in five of those, so you need to show her respect. She was a subpar fifth in her 2026 debut which was the Wright Memorial, but you should throw that race out as it was her a muddy track and it obviously was not to her liking. What’s in a name? The forecast for the Matron is for a fast track so look for her to rebound and re-assert herself.
4. Touch Of Oak (Maxmillion Farm/Jo Dominguez) No stranger to the LA Bred circuit herself she is a winner of the Ferguson Memorial in 2024 and has made a couple of strong stakes starts after being sold to Maxmillion Farm for $30.000 in May of last year. She dead heated for second with Miss LaLune in January where they both finished ahead of Oeuvre Rain on the muddy track that day. She lost the Caldwell Memorial Stakes by a head to Oeuvre Rain in her start before that, so she is knocking on the door and is looking to be the girl that takes the crown and flowers back to the barn this time.
5. Million In Mind (Asgar/C.H. Borel) Asgar homebred won the LA Futurity – Fillies in 2024 and immediately dusted off her small-town hooves and headed for the big time in graded stakes where she had mixed results but did manage an impressive second in the G2 Santa Anita Oaks last year. She followed that up with a disappointed twelfth place finish in the G2 Eight Belles on Derby day. She came back home to tackle the locals again in The LA Legends Soiree but Oeuvre Rain said “not so fast” that day spoiling the homecoming by a long neck. Million In Mind regrouped with an overnight win but threw in an uncharacteristically bad effort in the Rosewater last December. Oeuvre Rain was fourth that day, so it was likely a case of three-year-olds just meeting up with some more developed older mares that day or the end of a long year. Either way with her back class you have to give Million In Mind a pass with a chance for a rebound.
This is a tough one. You have a hot house flower on the rail who is completely unknown and could be any kind and then you have a group that takes turns beating each other and are consistently competitive and often right in the mix at the wire. It’s a total toss-up. Given that I have to show respect to the one I already labelled the pageant queen of the group and give the nod to Oeuvre Rain even with the two extra pounds – lucky it’s NOT a pageant! Touch of Oak seems as strong as her name, and I’ll pick her second with Million In Mind for third. It is truly anyone’s race so it will be a fun one to watch.
Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded