Oaks Hopeful Hoosier Philly Returns to Work Tab

Hoosier Philly  put in her first workout since returning to trainer Tom Amoss' barn Jan. 28 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The perfect 3-for-3 phenom continued her impressive ways, firing a :47 2/5 bullet half-mile, the fastest of 102 clocked that distance on Saturday.

Looking good! 1/2 mile breeze. @TomAmossRacing #teamamoss @fairgroundsnola #hoosierphilly pic.twitter.com/oFRPLBUG44

— HoosierPhillyOfficial (@hoosier_philly1) January 28, 2023

"There were a few things that are important to note," Amoss said. "The work was designed to be an easy ask, and that is exactly how she worked, despite the work looking really quick as a final time. You have to put that into perspective because she has a very high cruising speed. It was very, very similar to how she worked as a 2-year-old before we gave her time off, so we were happy with that."

Amoss and Fair Grounds' clocker Mike Diliberto timed Hoosier Philly at five furlongs in 1:00. The Into Mischief   filly had her regular jockey Edgar Morales aboard.

"She was well within herself and made it look easy," Diliberto said. "It looked like she was loping along, and then you looked at the time and it was like, 'Wow.'"

Owned by Gold Standard Racing Stable and bred by Candy Meadows in Kentucky, Hoosier Philly earned ten points towards the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with her Golden Rod Stakes (G2) romp at Churchill Downs in November. Prior to that, she won the Rags to Riches Stakes there by 7 1/2 lengths. She is currently in tenth place in the Oaks standings.

"I really like how enthusiastic she has been in her training over this past week," Amoss said. "That's always been her way in the past. When she first came in, it probably took her a little bit of time to get reacquainted with the race track and what her job is, but she's been doing great. It's worth noting that she wore four bandages today for her work, and we'll likely do that for the next time she works as well, but it's totally precautionary, and I doubt we do that for the race. We're just taking a lot of precautions with her."

Amoss has another 3-year-old standout in his barn, Curly Jack . The Iroquois Stakes (G3) winner has already earned 17 points toward the Kentucky Derby (G1).

"He's doing super," Amoss said. "(Curly Jack and Hoosier Philly) are different horses in regards to how you train them. Hoosier Philly is not going to need as much as Curly Jack will need to get ready to run. And you saw that today with her gallop out that was very strong past the wire. Curly Jack will come back likely mid-next week and we'll give him some competition. We'll pit him against another horse, and we're going to call upon him. We're going to ask him to finish up (strongly) in the work, and I'm looking forward to doing that."

In his second work since returning to the barn, Curly Jack breezed four furlongs in :50 2/5 on Jan. 26 (36th fastest of 48 at the distance).

Hoosier Philly has been targeting the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) and Curly Jack, the Risen Star Stakes (G2). But Amoss reported Saturday that it is not set in stone.

"We're not married to either of those two spots," Amoss said. "But based on how they are doing and where they've progressed in their training, it's very likely (they start in those races)."

Both Feb. 18 at Fair Grounds, the $400,000 Risen Star and the $300,000 Rachel Alexandra offering up qualifying points on a 50-20-15-10-5 basis to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively.