Wide-Open Field of Eight Vie for Fantasy Prize

With the defection of grade 1 winner and morning-line favorite Eda  and super filly Secret Oath  tackling the males in the Arkansas Derby (G1), the April 2 $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park has suddenly become anyone's race with 100 first-place points towards a berth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) up for grabs.

Baoma Corp.'s Eda, the 2-1 morning line favorite off four straight consecutive victories, was scratched Monday due to a fever. Trainer Bob Baffert had shipped Eda out to Oaklawn for the Fantasy, along with multiple graded stakes winner Cezanne  (competing in Saturday's Oaklawn Mile Stakes, G3), despite the filly's ineligibility for Oaks points. Baffert's two-year suspension from Churchill Downs has prohibited his horses from earning points in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) or Kentucky Oaks prep races.

"(Eda's) bloodwork was OK, but you just can't take a chance," said Baffert. "Any time that you have a little bit of a temp, that is it."

That leaves 170 total Oaks points on a 100-40-20-10 scale on the line in the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy.

A winner of the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs at 2, Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith's Dream Lith  disappointed in her only start this year, finishing a compromised sixth in the Feb. 19 Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

"There was a horse that got pulled up and she was kind of behind that horse," said trainer Robertino Diodoro. "It was a very speed-biased track. First time off a long layoff. I really feel we were one or two works short going into it. But at the same time, Ramon (jockey Vazquez) said down the lane at the Fair Grounds, she was running. They just weren't coming back to her."

Dream Lith has flourished over the Oaklawn oval since that effort, publishing three workouts, including a March 26 bullet half-mile in :47 2/5.

 "She actually gave me goosebumps the way she worked," Diodoro said. "She worked OK the time before. Kind of what you want from a horse, too, going into a race. Dream Lith, I thought worked OK last week and unbelievable (March 26). A week out going into a race, that's what you want."

The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro   breaks from the inside post on Saturday with regular pilot Vazquez aboard.

Shipping into Oaklawn from Lexington is Shortleaf Stable's homebred Bubble Rock . A graded stakes winner on the turf and a stakes winner last time out on the synthetic at Turfway Park in the March 5 Cincinnati Trophy Stakes, Bubble Rock is yet to race on the dirt in six lifetime starts. 

"We'll see how it goes," said trainer Brad Cox. "It's a good spot, 3-year-old fillies, dirt. We can give her a chance and see how it goes. A little bit of the unknown if she'll take to it, but we liked her well enough breezing her on the dirt to send her to Saratoga Race Course once we got her there. I thought she kind of struggled a little bit at Saratoga on the deeper surfaces. We're hoping for a good tight track on Saturday."

Cox will also send out Steve Landers Racing's Mariah's Fortune  in the Fantasy. Making her stakes debut on Saturday, the Classic Empire   filly romped home by eight lengths in her maiden tally before settling for second behind Bernabreezy  in a Feb. 18 allowance optional claiming race. 

Honeybee Stakes (G3) third-place finisher Yuugiri , Busanda Stakes captress Magic Circle , and a cast of recent maiden winners such as Beguine , I Feel the Need , and Heartyconstitution  try their luck at a chance for a starting slot in the Kentucky Oaks in the Fantasy. 

Entries: Fantasy S. (G3)

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, April 02, 2022, Race 10

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

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Dream Lith (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	122	Robertino Diodoro	8/1
2	2Beguine (KY)	Francisco Arrieta	119	Daniel C. Peitz	15/1
3	3I Feel the Need (KY)	Alex L. Canchari	119	Burl D. McBride	30/1
4	4Magic Circle (KY)	Jose Lezcano	122	Steven M. Asmussen	5/1
5	5Eda (KY)	John R. Velazquez	122	Bob Baffert	2/1
6	6Mariah's Fortune (KY)	Flavien Prat	119	Brad H. Cox	10/1
7	7Yuugiri (KY)	Florent Geroux	119	Rodolphe Brisset	4/1
8	8Heartyconstitution (PA)	Martin Garcia	119	Joe Sharp	12/1
9	9Bubble Rock (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Brad H. Cox	3/1