GI – DMR Oaks

$300.000 Graded Stake 1 1/8 Mile on Turf for Filly Three Year Olds

2016 Champ: Heartland

This Saturday is one of the biggest weekends of the DMR summer meet with the DMR Handicap, DMR Oaks and Pacific Classic all on one card making it a very important for many horses looking at getting into the BC. The DMR Oaks is the only one of those races not a win and your in but the fact it’s a GI makes it just as important as those other races. This years field features five talented fillies

1- Nothing Given (Trained by Our Athletes, Ridden by Leparoux J R)

Winning her first career stake race last time out is Nothing Given. She was able to come home with the ON bred Wonder Where Stakes. She is steadily improving but her race times are a bit behind the lead group of horses in this race and likely suggests she will struggle a bit in against these but her steady improvement means she could jump up and win this type of race at any time.

2- Commanding Faith (Trained by Crocker Ggs, Ridden by Maldonado E)

After setting the pace early on in her most recent race she wasn’t able to hold on down the stretch and ended up finishing seventh in the GI Diana. The race before that she ran a very similar race but was able to get slightly slower early fractions and was able to hold that lead and come away with a victory. She gets her regular jockey back and is back in California where she seems to do her best running. Expecting a big effort from this filly

3- Killer Angels (Trained by TwinTowersRacing, Ridden by Albarado R J)

A one time graded stake winner and off track specialist is Killer Angels. Her connections would probably be very happy to wake up Saturday morning in DMR and see some rain which looks unlikely. Without the help of rain she was able to put in an impressive run back in May. Her last run was at a mile and a quarter and seemed to be a bit too long for her and should help. With her best effort she should be able to hit the board.

4- Drop Her Off (Trained by Mb Stables, Ridden by Ortiz I Jr)

Lightly raced, with only four career starts but her most recent one was an impressive wire to wire winner in a mile and an eighth optional claimer. That race time is comparable to what other three year old fillies have been running in recent stake races. She looks like a bit of a late bloomer that looks like she is continuing to improve. Not sure she can get through and win a race like this already but is on the path to winning these types of race.

5- Tightness (Trained by EasyMoney Stables, Ridden by Desormeaux K J)

After starting the year with a big state bred stakes win Tightness has struggled to get back in the winners circle. She has had a few very solid second place finishes in those five loses. She has struggled a bit over her career stretching out over a mile as she has only been able to win once, which was her very first try and races longer then a mile. The distance looks like her biggest obstacle.

My Selections: 2/4/3

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES