The DEL Oaks (Grade 3)- $300.000 Purse
DEL- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
June 14, 2025

This Saturday will give us a chance to check out the racing at DEL, as the 20th running of the DEL Oaks takes place, and we will have eight fillies taking part in it. The race began as a Grade 2 for a $500.000 purse, before being downgraded to a Grade 3 in 2015. The $300.000 purse level has been consistent since 2013. Mb Stables has seen a lot of success in this race as of late, winning it in three of the last four years, including last year with Be Yourself. Unfortunately, that would be the final positive moment of her racing career, and she has been retired with two foals already having been produced. Other past winners include Bay Bound (2010), Notarized Kate (2016), and Matamata (2022). Here is a look at the eight three-year-old fillies that will be running this year:

1- Fire Chief (Bigking, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- Claimed for just $16.000 six months ago, and has proven to be a great pickup. Bigking ran her long for her first race in new silks, and while she was not new to the distance, she proved she could handle it by winning an optional claimer at TP. It’s been all graded since then, and in late March, she picked up the win in the Grade 2 GP Oaks to send her from a claimer to the KYO in a short period of time. The KYO would not be her best race, and she’ll resurface here from it while hoping for better. Five of her nine races have come on off tracks, and it’s possible that happens again.

2- Rising Authority (Rock Creek, ridden by P Husbands)- A lightly raced filly that will make just her fifth career start. Her first three races came with Maxmillion Farm, but after breaking her maiden in October, she sat around there for a long time before she was sold to Rock Creek in May for $10.000. Rising Authority won five days after the sale in an allowance at LAD, and now, here she is. Can she live up to her name and rise up through the ranks in a big way. I’ll have to see it first.

3- Nicolette (Alydar Stables, ridden by V Espinoza)- In March, Nicolette came from behind to win the $250.000 VA Oaks at CNL, but it would not be enough to get her into the KYO after struggling in the slop at the Gazelle. No worries, because she would made her way to PIM for the Grade 2 Black Eyed Susan, where she again looked to come from the back and get the win late. She would not quite get the winner there but settled for a strong second in a traditionally challenging race. As this race goes on, we will need to be mindful of where she is and when she makes her late run this time. Unless, of course, the trainer changes something up.

4- Shericka (Winning Link Stables, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Similar to Nicolette, Shericka picked up one win during KYO prep season, grabbing the $250.000 SUN Oaks with a wire-to-wire effort, but she would not take part in the KYO itself. Instead, the trainer opted for the shorter Eight Belles on the same day at CD, and she would end up running third in the race, and did not lose by much in the mud. The last time she ran this distance was the only time she has a poor race on her resume, but that was about three months ago, and she can atone for that right here.

5- Affair (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by P Lopez)- This is one of those horses that you never seem to know what you’re going to get. After winning the $125.000 Gimma last September, she hit a roadblock in her career, with three subpar outings that would lead to her being dropped into an optional claimer. She didn’t win that, either, but ran well enough to encourage her trainer to run her in the Grade 1 Ashland. Finished in the middle of the pack there, and was dropped into an allowance last time out, where she second. The potential is obviously there in the trainer’s eyes, but I can’t trust her here.

6- Quail Trot (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by Mario Gutierrez)- This will be her first race running for Maxmillion Farm, as the trainer picked her up just four days after running in the middle of the pack at the Grade 2 Black Eyed Susan for $100.000. Quail Trot was at her best last fall when running against FL-Breds, taking two State bred stakes and then she would be starting this year off with a good third place run in the Grade 3 Santa Ynez Stakes, but has been shut out since in top quality races. Seems to just need to find a little more speed, and perhaps Maxmillion Farm can get that out of her.

7- Narcissa Malfoy (Mb Stables, ridden by M Franco)- Only has made five starts in her career, but that did not keep her out of the KYO. In April, she made her way to AQU for the Grade 3 Gazelle and had no problem at all with the sloppy conditions, coming from the back to win by half a length and get into the big race. When the KYO came up muddy, Narcissa Malfoy would have only seemed to have been more appealing on the heels of the Gazelle, but she would be beaten by ten lengths, only defeating one of her rivals. She’s better than that but needs to show it here.

8- No Ones Complaining (Mb Stables, ridden by F Prat)- Ran against her stablemate, Narcissa Malfoy, in the Gazelle, and ran third to her that day. She’d be left out of the KYO and was instead sent to PIM to run in the Black Eyed Susan, where she again took the show monies. Over six race career, she has either won or finished third, so she is, at minimum, productive on every occasion and that should continue again. For now, her biggest win in the $125.000 May for NY-breds, so she’d love to change to that to the DEL Oaks right here. Figures to be a strong contender.

Prediction: 3-1-8-7

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES