Monomoy Girl Sitting on Go After Final KY Oaks Drill
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Photo: © 2018 Anne M. Eberhardt
Monomoy Girl works April 28 under Florent Geroux at Churchill Downs
The best-case-scenario campaign Monomoy Girl has obligingly followed since November came one step closer to fruition April 28, when the Tapizar filly put in her final work for the May 4 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.
"We were looking for a good maintenance breeze," said trainer Brad Cox. "She's a really good work horse. I thought the work went really, really well. Maybe not quite as quick as she normally works, but she sat right with her company like we wanted. We wanted her to carry the breeze out to the seven-eighths pole, so really she went five-eighths from the half and then went out (to) three-quarters in (1:14 3/5), and it was a really good move. I was really pleased with it."
Churchill clockers credited the grade 1-winning chestnut with five furlongs in 1:01 3/5 under jockey Florent Geroux in her second published move since her April 7 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) score at Keeneland. That top-level win came after Monomoy Girl opened her season for Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Bethlehem Stables, and Monomoy Stables with an impressive victory in the Feb. 17 Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, following a road map Cox and the filly's connections laid out after her runner-up finish in the Nov. 25 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at Churchill.
ANGST: Monomoy Girl Runs Away With the Ashland
"Any time you look back and think about trying to put a plan together for a horse—for a filly like this—you feel very fortunate to be in this position, with the plan we mapped out still in place," Cox said. "We mapped out this plan we're on now in November, and right now everything has gone as planned.
"She's a very sound filly—doing well. She seems to be doing just as well going into the Oaks as she was going into the Rachel Alexandra and the Ashland. It's hard to get horses to races, period, and the run we've had with her since last summer and last fall, over the winter and into the spring, it's been a great ride—and hopefully it continues."
Other Kentucky Oaks contenders on the Saturday work tab at Churchill Downs were Sassy Sienna (four furlongs in :49 1/5, out to six furlongs in 1:12 2/5), Eskimo Kisses (five furlongs in 1:01 1/5, with splits of :12 3/5 and :37 4/5, and a gallop out to six furlongs in 1:15 1/5), and Blamed (four furlongs in :48 2/5, with a split of :24 4/5 and gallop out to five furlongs in 1:01 1/5).