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

This Saturday, the third running of the Jockey Club Oaks will take place, but it will be unlike the previous two as it will be held at AQU. That’s perfectly fine for the ten horses that go to post in this race, hoping for the winner’s share of the $700.000 purse. That is down a tick ($50.000) from the first edition of the race, but in line with last year. Last year, RNP Stables earned the win with his filly, Shining Moments, and we have continued to see that one in top notch races within the division. She’s only won once since, and finishes well every now and then. An entertaining race here between the winners of the DMR Oaks and SAR Oaks last month, as well as others that ran well in either of those races up against others who are equally capable even though they were not in one of them. Let’s meet this field!

#1- Frenzy (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by Ru Gonzalez)- This filly has won two of her ten career races, but also has several disappointing efforts and an inability to step up into the stakes level on previous opportunities. Now, she has some excuses in her last few starts that would have me more willing to give her a shot if she was not in such a strong field. She’s capable of doing more than she has thus far, but racing here seems like a reach.

#2- Tabitha Stephens (Mb Stables, ridden by D Moran)- It may be that this one is just getting started, as she has only made six starts thus far. Four of them are wins, and she has never finished out of the money. Mb Stables picked her up in private sales for $125.000 in February and has brought her along well. Her last start was her stake debut of any sort, and it was in the Grade 2 Lake Placid at SAR, where she came out on top. She’s poised to be a spoiler here of the others with much more graded experience.

#3- Demanding Commander (Hippyheart, ridden by V Espinoza)- We last saw this filly at BEL, when she ran in the Grade 1 BEL Oaks at the beginning of July. It was a race that she would like to forget, ending a run of very good form over her prior four races. She has now had over two months to think about what happened in that race and perhaps any improvement she shows will begin right from the starting gate. That can be beneficial, and I look forward to seeing how she rebounds in this one.

#4- Love Is Free (Iolaus Racing, ridden by G Saez)- A consistent filly that has never failed to hit the board over her eight race career. Two of them are wins, and neither are in a stake as of yet. She might be knocking on the door of that, though, making a successful stake debut in the $200.000 Tepin, where she ran second. Sure, there was only three horses in the race but she was able to step it up off of that in the Grade 3 SAR Oaks, where she was third. A similar effort will have her in contention here, but a little improvement might be needed to get her in the winner’s circle.

#5- I Love Me (Mb Stables, ridden by J Lezcano)- The trainer certainly loved her two year old season, as she would end up winning the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. She also won the Grade 1 Natalma that year. So far in 2022, she has three wins in eight starts, but the biggest victory is the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride Stakes. Nothing wrong with that, but you have to think that Mb Stables wants more from her. Last two starts have been the BEL Oaks and the SAR Oaks, and all she got from those is a fourth place check in the BEL version.

#6- Louisiana Woo (Invicta Group Llc, ridden by J Alvarado)- After passing through a couple barns at the start of her career, Invicta Group Llc picked her up in private sales for $10.000 and has done a great job with her. She has won three of her seven starts thus far, though none of those wins are going to intimidate any of her rivals here. Last month, she was out at DMR for the DMR Oaks, and ended up running second, making that the race that we need to see again for her to have a shot. Wish there were more public works then these short ones that are shown.

#7- State Caviar (Smokey Stover, ridden by I C Wenc)- In late January, State Caviar picked up a win in the $200.000 Texas Turf Mile, a race that he was put into immediately after breaking his maiden. The filly continued to run well, but a recent venture out to the west coast was very successful for her. It would start simply, taking an optional claimer at DMR, and if that was needed for a jolt of confidence by the trainer with the trainer for the filly, he would get it. Her next start was the Grade 1 DMR Oaks, and that would end with her also going to the winner’s circle. No reason to think that she’d have a problem with the added distance, either.

#8- Space Force Five (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by M J Sanchez)- The Shark Force filly will be making her stake debut here in the Jockey Club Oaks. Thus far in her career, she has two wins in seven starts, and it is a victory last month at FE in an optional claimer which sends her here. It was her turf debut, and she does have good turf works to back her up, but this is a lot to ask. TwinTowersRacing never backs down from going for it with a horse like this, though.

#9- Directors Chair (Nakamura Stables, ridden by D Davis)- Last fall, she was second in the BC Juvenile Fillies, barely missing out on the victory. Remained on the main track for the first part of this year, and would end up running third in the SA Oaks in March. From there, she was moved to the turf and Nakamura has not looked back from that. She picked up several strong finishes, and was third in the BEL Oaks before she eventually earned her first career win on the grass last month in the Pucker Up Stakes at CD with a wire to wire effort. Should be in contention here as well.

#10- Perfect Class (Sccj Stables, ridden by F T Alvarado)- Right now, Perfect Class is the queen of the turf. There is not a better turf female in the game right now, and the only bad news for her is that she will not have her regular jockey, Mario Gutierrez. If only this was real racing, because if it was I doubt he would go to WO over the chance to ride her here. On the turf she has won seven of eight, and all three of said races she has been in this year. Those aren’t smaller stakes, either, as she won the $500.000 Grade 2 Edgewood, the $700.000 Grade 1 BEL Oaks, and then the $700.000 Grade 3 SAR Oaks. At this point, I don’t know how someone doesn’t pick Perfect Class. She’s been fine with outside post starts, too.

Prediction: 10-9-7-5

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES