Betting the Summertime Oaks on a $20 Budget

Stellar Wind (above) is the lone graded stakes winner entered in the Summertime Oaks on Saturday at Santa Anita Park. (BENOIT photo)
The Grade 2 Summertime Oaks will be contested for 70th time Saturday at Santa Anita Park, where 10 fabulous, 3-year-old fillies seek to bolster their résumés in this 1 1/16-mile race.
Formerly known as the Hollywood Oaks, recent standouts that won this race include Gorgeous (1989), Hollywood Wildcat (1993), Lakeway (1994), Sharp Cat (1995), Manistique (1998), Adoration (2002), Hystericalady (2006), Tough Tiz’s Sis (2007), Switch (2010) and Zazu (2011).
Grade 1 winner Stellar Wind is the only graded stakes winner in the field, but history shows this race often serves as a launching pad for improving 3-year-old fillies. Let’s take a look at this year’s leading contenders:
#5 ROKSANA: Roksana and jockey Felipe Valdez enter this race off a two-race win streak as a team, both at Santa Anita and both in two-turn races like the Hollywood Oaks. Stepping up in class and adding a sixteenth of a mile shouldn’t be too big of a challenge for Roksana to overcome considering her speed figures have improved with each race. Additionally, the jockey-trainer combo of Valdez and Martin Jones has been winning at 29-percent this year and shows a positive ROI, paying $7.80 for every $2 bet. Roksana might pull off an upset at a price!
#9 STELLAR WIND: Coming off of a discouraging fourth-place finish in her most recent race as the 3.20-to-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Stellar Wind returns to her beloved Santa Anita, where she previously scored her biggest victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. Undefeated in two races at Santa Anita, Stellar Wind also won the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita in February and has the services of regular rider Victor Espinoza, racing’s newest Triple Crown-winning jockey. Two additional factors prove to me that she can come back and add to her success at Santa Anita: Stellar Wind has been working extremely well in preparation for the Hollywood Oaks and she is the class of the field.
#6 TARA’S TANGO: Despite losing to Fantastic Style in her most recent start, Tara's Tango showed improvement in that race, the Angel's Flight Stakes at Santa Anita on May 16, and continues to look impressive.  She’s bred for distance and looks like she should enjoy stretching out from sprints to the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Summertime Oaks. This could finally be her time for a breakthrough stakes victory!
#10 FANTASTIC STYLE: Fantastic Style is coming off a career-best performance in winning the Angel's Flight Stakes by 3 ¼ lengths in a very fast time, but she faces many challenges going into this race. This race has more quality competition than the Angel’s Flight, her post position is a factor (she drew the far outside post in the 10-horse field) and, most importantly, she’s never raced around two turns. With too many questions and as the morning-line favorite, I won’t be betting her to win, but she could be there to round out the top three. Fantastic Style is must-use underneath, so I won’t toss her completely.
Vick’s Picks:
Strategy A: $10 win on #5 Roksana ($10) AND
$5 place/show #5 Roksana ($10)
Total = $20
Strategy B: $10 exacta box: #5 Roksana, #9 Stellar Wind ($20)
Strategy C:  $5 trifecta:  #5 Roksana with #6 Tara’s Tango, #9 Stellar Wind with #6 Tara’s Tango, #9 Stellar Wind ($10) AND
$5 trifecta:  #6 Tara’s Tango, #9 Stellar Wind with #5 Roksana with #6 Tara’s Tango, #9 Stellar Wind ($10)
Total = $20
$200,000 Summertime OaksSaturday, Santa Anita Park, Race 8, 7 p.m. ET3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles, dirt

PP

Horse

Jockey

Trainer

Owner

M-L Odds

1

All Star Bub

Rafael Bejarano

Jerry Hollendorfer

Campbell, Clark or Skoda, et al

20-1

2

Sheer Pleasure

Tyler Baze

Phil D'Amato

Little Red Feather Racing or RM Racing

4-1

3

Danette

Fernando Perez

Keith Desormeaux

Don’t Tell My Wife Stables

15-1

4

Guild

Flavien Prat

Eoin Harty

Godolphin Racing

30-1

5

Roksana

Felipe Valdez

Martin Jones

Michael Ellis

12-1

6

Tara's Tango

Mike Smith

Jerry Hollendorfer

Stonestreet Stables

4-1

7

Conquest Curlgirl

Joe Talamo

Mark Casse

Conquest Stables

12-1

8

Scat Means Go

Gary Stevens

Henry Dominguez

J. Kirk or Judy Robison

8-1

9

Stellar Wind

Victor Espinoza

John Sadler

Hronis Racing

5-2

10

Fantastic Style

Martin Garcia

Bob Baffert

Kaleem Shah

SCR