Eye on the Oaks: Overprepared

Overprepared won the Busanda Stakes in her season debut. (Photos by NYRA/Coglianese Photos)
The sister race to the Kentucky Derby, the $1-million, 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is held annually at Churchill Downs on the Friday before the Derby and restricted to 3-year-old fillies (young female horses). Eye on the Oaks, which will run through the 2015 edition of the race, takes a closer look at fillies who have won important races and could make an impact as we move toward the first Friday in May.
This week we look at Overprepared, winner of the Jan. 16 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct.

Overprepared made her first appearance on the Kentucky Oaks trail a winning one as she galloped to a 1 ¼-length victory in Aqueduct’s Busanda Stakes on Jan. 16. The filly from Quality Road’s first crop has never finished worse than third and sits in 13th position on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard.
Racing Résumé
A $310,000 purchase as a 2-year-old in training, Overprepared debuted a winner to score an impressive 3 ½-length win and earn an 85 Equibase speed figure at Belmont Park in October. She stayed at the six furlong distance for her next start, the Smart Halo Stakes, in which she finished third as a heavy favorite after being forced to check when making what could have been a winning move in the stretch. 

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The filly had two months off before making her 3-year-old bow at Aqueduct in the Busanda at a mile and 70 yards. Overprepared responded well to the stretch out in distance, breaking from post 2 and heading straight to the lead. She and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. set easy fractions of :50.24 and 1:15.21 while being pressed by Hopefaithjoy and Been Here Before. 
Ortiz said “go” at the top of the stretch and Overprepared accelerated to a 1 ½ length lead, holding off the late rally of Liberty Island to win by 1 1/4 lengths. Though her 79 speed figure wasn’t as good as her debut, it was a six point improvement over her last race. Ortiz told Daily Racing Form he was pleased with his filly’s effort.
“I had a perfect trip,” he said. “My filly broke good and settled for me, and when I asked her, I had a lot of horse. She was a little green in the stretch, but she’s a very good filly.”
Running Style
Overprepared was on the pace in both of her winning efforts, and encountered trouble in the one race she ran from off the pace. She set much faster fractions in her debut win than in her stakes win, leading one to believe she may not be as fast around two turns as some of the Oaks contenders that prefer to set the pace. Fortunately she does look to have a strong closing kick if she closes from mid-pack as long as she can avoid the kind of trouble she ran into in the Smart Halo Stakes.
Pedigree
Overprepared is a member of Quality Road’s first crop and has quite the female family backing her up. Her first dam, Daily Special, makes her a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Shadow Cast and she has a number of stakes winners in her family.
Quality Road was the leading first-crop sire of 2014, represented by both Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hootenanny and undefeated multiple Grade 2 winner Blofeld. Quality Road was an outstanding racehorse, capturing the Florida Derby as a 3-year-old and the Donn Handicap, Metropolitan Handicap and Woodward Stakes as a 4-year-old. Overall the horse had 18 winners from 44 starters in his first crop.
OVERPREPARED WAS ONE OF THE 2-YEAR-OLD WINNERS IN HER SIRE'S FIRST CROP

Overprepared’s first dam Daily Special was unraced but produced the aforementioned Shadow Cast, winner of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, as well as stakes-placed Queen Marge. Second dam Nafees was a stakes winner who produced ten winners from ten starters, including stakes winners Camilla Blu and Snowy Owl.
Third dam Summer Legend was another prolific producer, with 10 winners from 12 starters including champion Canadian 2-year-old filly Legarto and stakes winner Lean Cuisine. Her offspring are responsible for multiple graded stakes winning sire Dream Impact, multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Panty Raid and graded stakes winners Cryptoquip, Danc’N Jake, St. John’s River and U D Ghetto.
Summer Legend’s dam Scotch Verdict was also a top-class producer with 100 percent winners. Among those tracing their roots to her are 1973 champion 3-year-old filly and 1974 champion older mare Desert Vixen, sire Valid Appeal and graded stakes winners Real Shadai, Stub, Kentucky Kaper and Captain Bax. A remarkable 70 stakes horses appear under Overprepared’s fourth dam.
She still has some improving to do to catch up to the best fillies of her class, but Overprepared is a promising filly with a strong family and one who’s definitely worth keeping an eye on in her next performance on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.