Calumet's She Be Smooth Favored in Gulfstream Park Oaks

Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm has developed an upset reputation in graded stakes, notably taking the Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) at Keeneland last spring with the Brendan Walsh-trained Gin Gin  at 38-1 odds. Later, Gin Gin added Keeneland's Spinster Stakes (G1) as an encore in the fall, upsetting champions Nitrogen  and Thorpedo Anna .

But there's no chance that Calumet Farm's She Be Smooth  will go unnoticed by the public in the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) on Florida Derby day, March 28. Having won her only two starts, including the Davona Dale Stakes (G2) by 6 lengths last month at Gulfstream Park for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, She Be Smooth is favored to win the 1 1/16-mile stakes race, an important prep for the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Under dual Eclipse Award-winning rider Flavien Prat, the homebred daughter of Lexitonian   is the 7-5 morning-line choice in a seven-horse field, ahead of 9-5 Prom Queen , who she defeated when they both debuted Jan. 23 at Gulfstream. Just Singing , twice graded-placed and adding blinkers, and My Miss Mo , the Davona Dale runner-up, are other contenders at 9-2 and 5-1 odds, respectively.

The Gulfstream Park Oaks offers 200 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks, distributed on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis to its top five finishers. Churchill Downs officials use qualifying points as a preference system when the Oaks lures more than its 14-horse capacity field size. She Be Smooth is already well positioned to qualify, having picked up 50 points in the Davona Dale.

She Be Smooth, not yet tested beyond a mile or around two turns, has a running style that suggests she should handle the conditions.

Her dam, Seattle Smooth , was a multiple stakes winner over a variety of distances, including the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps Handicap (G1) in 2009, which was run around one turn at Belmont Park. She also took the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion Stakes (G2) around two turns a year earlier at Philadelphia Park, now Parx Racing.

She Be Smooth's sire, Lexitonian, was a high-class sprinter/miler for Calumet and now stands at Calumet's Kentucky farm for $7,500.

"To go from a first start maiden to a graded stakes and win impressively, I thought it was a huge jump up for her," Pletcher said. "We haven't had to train her very much in between races. She's fit and happy, and she seems to like the Gulfstream track. She also acts like the stretch-out won't bother her, either."

Prom Queen, a homebred for Gary and Mary West, has 1 1/16-mile distance experience, having scored by 8 lengths in a Feb. 12 maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park after finishing second, 2 1/4 lengths behind She Be Smooth, when they were unveiled in a mile maiden race weeks earlier.

Brad Cox, who trains the daughter of Quality Road  , has named Hall of Famer Javier Castellano to return in the saddle.

"I loved her two-turn race. She obviously ran very well first time out (and) was beaten by a really good filly. We thought she had run well but also thought she was one that would be better around two turns," Cox said. "It was a short field last time but I thought she gained a lot of experience in the race. Javier did a good job of educating her.