Jockey Club Oaks (Grade 3)- $700.000 Purse
AQU- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and Three Eighths on the Inner Turf
September 17, 2022

Perfect Class truly is a remarkable racehorse. Her three year old season has been nearly perfect, and when it comes to running on the grass, it has been. She has not been ducking the competition, scoring wins in the BEL Oaks and SAR Oaks before looking to complete a NYRA sweep here at the Big A. If you wanted to nit pick a reason to not pick her, you could have pointed out that her regular jockey was up in Canada, or that she was starting from post 10. She would still be the favorite, but at odds of 2.65/1, she probably could have been much more heavily bet. We felt that she would be the class of the field, and Perfect Class would not disappoint, earning her fourth straight win against elite company, and making her a perfect 5-for-5 when running long on the grass. She is trained by Sccj Stables, who is enjoying the ride every step of the way. It is his first win in this race, and the same is true for jockey F T Alvarado who filled in well for Mario Gutierrez. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 2:12.32. Let’s take a look!

(½ Mile- :48.33)- As we move down the backstretch and into the first time to start the race, the lead would be held by TwinTowersRacing’s Space Force Five, who was the outside horse of four wide, but leading the other three by about a full length for much of the opening half mile. The other three were more lined up and matching one another’s strides. Two of these horses were trained by Mb Stables, as Tabitha Stephens ran on the rail and I Love Me was in the third lane. Between them, would be Hippyheart’s Demanding Commander. Stalking the lead group would be three horses, and running on the outside here was our eventual winner, Perfect Class. She took the opening turn running three wide, but moved to inside with the Nakamura Stables- trained Directors Chair as they hit the frontstretch. Running with them on the outside now would be Smokey Stover’s State Caviar. Frenzy (TwinTowersRacing) was a length behind them, and then similar distances were present to Lousiana Woo (Invicta Group Llc) and Love Is Free (Iolaus Racing).

(3/4 Mile- 1:12.12)- We would have a change for the lead as the field moved into the clubhouse turn, but this would be a product of the early pacesetter, Space Force Five, being unable to maintain the pace and starting to fall back. Give the lead now to Demanding Commander, who leads the Mb stablemates, Tabitha Stephens and I Love Me by half a length, but each of them are still in good stride as well. Perfect Class maintains a comfortable position, sitting just off the lead by about two lengths with Directors Chair doing all she could to keep up wither her. State Caviar, however, could not, and begins to drop back. A little further back, Lousiana Woo finds some room on the rail and uses it to make her pass on Frenzy with plenty of opportunity to make a bigger push if she wanted too. Love Is Free was by her lonesome at the back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- Completing the backstretch trip and moving around the turn, Demanding Commander continues to show the way, and the demands of her pace would now be too much for Tabitha Stephens, as she starts to fall back. I Love Me was also unable to keep up, but was doing a better job hanging in there than her stablemate did. But all was not won for Demanding Commander as trouble for her loomed in the form of the great Perfect Class. She was patiently waiting for her time to strike behind the front group, and as a couple of them backed out, she would move to the inside. On the exit of the turn, Hippyheart had to know he was in trouble now as Perfect Class was only a length back and had plenty of time to make her run in the stretch. Further back, the only horse making a push forward was Lousiana Woo, but it would be very difficult for her to make up two and a half lengths on Perfect Class at this point.

(Finish- 2:12.32)- To her credit, Demanding Commander put in a game effort for most of the stretch run, but this was going to be another class where the talent of Perfect Class was on display. Despite having a pretty tough outside trip for much of this race, she had plenty left for the stretch, and showed her great talents in the stretch, winning while pulling away, by a length. That margin and the final race time would have been even better, too, if she didn’t have the wide trip. Demanding Commander should not be ashamed of running second here, and is able to beat Lousiana Woo by a length with I Love Me taking fourth. Directors Chair, who ran with Perfect Class for the first half of the race, is beaten by her by over a second. Tabitha Stephens, Love Is Free, Space Force Five, Frenzy, and State Caviar round it out.

About The Winner- Perfect Class, trained by Sccj Stables and ridden to victory by F T Alvarado, is a three year old filly by Asset Class and is out of the late Rosemari Perfect. She was bred by Sccj Stables as a second quarter two year old in California, and they have been together throughout. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her eighth in 11 starts, and her sixth stake win, all of which are graded. Her career earnings are now $1,811.240.

Track: Firm
Time: :48¹  1:12   1:35⁴  2:12¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 10 – 3 Paid 27.80
$1 Trifecta: 10 – 3 – 6 Paid 1,474.00

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES