Pauline's Pearl Faces Recent Oaklawn Rivals in Fantasy

The $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park April 3 has retained a trio of fillies from the most recent local Road to the Kentucky Oaks prep race. Pauline's Pearl , Sun Path , and Coach —the respective second-, third-, and fifth-place finishers in the March 6 Honeybee Stakes (G3)—are set to face four others in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile feature, which awards qualifying points for the April 30 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) on a 100-40-20-10 scale.

A win in the Fantasy would guarantee any filly enough qualifying points to run in the Kentucky Oaks, which allows for 14 starters. Stonestreet Stables' homebred Pauline's Pearl, who is trained by Steve Asmussen, is 15th on the Oaks leaderboard heading into the weekend.

By Tapit   and out of grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick , also dam of stakes winner Union Jackson  , Pauline's Pearl rallied from sixth and missed frontrunning Will's Secret by less than a length in the Honeybee. That effort followed a Feb. 12 maiden win on a sloppy track at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Ricardo Santana Jr. has the mount from the outside post.

"Pauline's Pearl is just a royally-bred filly that has consistently gotten better," Asmussen said. "Off of her run in the Honeybee, we're very excited for Saturday's Fantasy."

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Sun Path will break one post inward under Joe Talamo. The Brad Cox-trained Munnings   filly, a full sister to grade 2 winner Bonny South , closed out her 2-year-old season with a 12 3/4-length romp in a Fair Grounds allowance. She was fourth in her stakes debut, the Jan. 16 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds, after pressing the pace and was passed by Pauline's Pearl late to miss second by three-quarters of a length in the Honeybee.

Kuber Racing's Coach , a Commissioner  filly who is also trained by Cox, won her first three starts at 2, including the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs, before finishing third there behind leading Oaks contenders Travel Column  (trained by Cox) and Clairiere  (trained by Asmussen) in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) last fall. Back Jan. 30 in the Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn, she was squeezed early but rallied for second behind Will's Secret . She raced in last of seven in the Honeybee, only getting up for fifth. Fernando De La Cruz has the call from post 4.

Sun Path is 19th on the leaderboard and Coach 26th.

Trainer Dallas Stewart and Willis Horton Racing, the connections of Will's Secret, have Take Charge Lorin  in the Fantasy. The Tapit filly broke her maiden last out Feb. 25 at Oaklawn and tries stakes company for the first time. Also stepping up is West Side Girl , trained and co-owned by Jerry Hollendorfer, who enters off two Oaklawn wins in waiver maiden claiming and starter optional claiming.

Last summer's Adirondack (G2) third-place finisher Ava's Grace  and Martha Washington fourth Sylvia Q  complete the field. 

Windmill, Abrogate Face Off Again

Three-year-old fillies will also be featured on the undercard Saturday at Oaklawn sprinting six furlongs in the $200,000 Purple Martin Stakes. Fox Hill Farm's Windmill , undefeated in two starts after winning the Feb. 28 Dixie Belle Stakes over the same course and distance, heads the field of five.

A daughter of Street Sense   trained by Larry Jones, Windmill sat off the pace early in the Dixie Belle, vied three to four wide, then dug in through the stretch for a length win on a sloppy track. She drilled a bullet five furlongs in :59 2/5 March 28 at the Hot Springs, Ark., track. Talamo will be back aboard from post 2.

Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Abrogate  is the only other filly in the field with stakes experience. She won her first two starts, including an allowance on a muddy track at Oaklawn, before finishing third in the Dixie Belle. The Asmussen trainee will break from post 3 with regular rider Santana up.

"Abrogate was successful in her first two runs, ran a solid third last time out on an off track," Asmussen said. "She's a big filly and I've been very pleased with how she's trained ever since. Obviously, back in against the filly that beat her last time, but we are doing extremely well."

Asmussen also entered Winchell Thoroughbreds' Devilish Wit , who ships in off maiden and allowance scores at Sam Houston Race Park and will break from the rail under Francisco Arrieta.

"She had a disappointing first run at Keeneland last fall, regrouped, and has had two very solid runs in her two subsequent starts," Asmussen said. "Realize that this is a step up for her in competition but she has responded nicely from her last two runs. Was hoping for a little better draw for her, but she will do her best from there."

Cox will be represented by 4 G Racing and Lance and Clint Gasaway's Southern Grayce , who was second to Abrogate in the same allowance race before coming back to win an allowance optional claimer March 4 at Oaklawn.

WSS Racing's Joyful Cadence , a John Ortiz trainee who broke her maiden by 8 3/4 lengths over the Purple Martin's course and distance March 4, completes the field.

Entries: Fantasy S. (G3)

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, April 03, 2021, Race 11

• Grade III
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $600,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 5:54 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1West Side Girl (KY)	Francisco Arrieta	117	Jerry Hollendorfer	12/1
2	2Ava's Grace (KY)	David Cohen	117	Robertino Diodoro	8/1
3	3Sylvia Q (KY)	Martin Garcia	117	Philip A. Bauer	5/1
4	4Coach (KY)	Fernando De La Cruz	121	Brad H. Cox	5/1
5	5Take Charge Lorin (KY)	David Cabrera	117	Dallas Stewart	6/1
6	6Sun Path (KY)	Joseph Talamo	117	Brad H. Cox	2/1
7	7Pauline's Pearl (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	117	Steven M. Asmussen	9/5

Entries: Purple Martin S.

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, April 03, 2021, Race 6

• STK
• 6f
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 3:09 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Devilish Wit (KY)	Francisco Arrieta	117	Steven M. Asmussen	6/1
2	2Windmill (KY)	Joseph Talamo	122	J. Larry Jones	9/5
3	3Abrogate (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Steven M. Asmussen	2/1
4	4Southern Grayce (KY)	Fernando De La Cruz	122	Brad H. Cox	3/1
5	5Joyful Cadence (KY)	David Cabrera	117	John Alexander Ortiz	9/2