Champagne Anyone Pops Gulfstream Park Oaks Upset
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Champagne Anyone wins the Gulfstream Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park
Determined in the stretch to inch past third choice Cookie Dough and resilient enough to hold off 6-5 favorite Dunbar Road late by a half-length, Champagne Anyone scored a 7-1 upset in the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) March 30 at Gulfstream Park.
Arindel's Cookie Dough, who made all six of her previous starts at Gulfstream, broke on top in the Oaks and carried the field through an opening quarter-mile in :23.80 while being stalked by Champagne Anyone, Dunbar Road, and Safta. Cookie Dough opened up on the field down the backstretch with a half-mile going in :47.58.
After six furlongs went in 1:11.77, Champagne Anyone and rider Chris Landeros pressed the pace and got on even terms with the leader as Dunbar Road came with her run after floating out wide turning into the stretch.
Moving up in a bid to get the upper hand, Champagne Anyone was challenged briefly when Dunbar Road came with a vengeance on the outside but managed to hold the lead for the win. Cookie Dough was another three-quarters of a length back in third.
Final time for the 1 1/16-mile trip was 1:43.47.
"I got her into a gear early, and she went along beautifully today," Landeros said. "She's so naturally gifted. She still doesn't know when to completely lay it down. But today's a big step forward, and I think the best is yet to come for her.
"We put (blinkers) on for a reason. Let her run a little bit. Let's see what we've got. Let's toughen her up. I knew what that meant, and she found a gear early and she's there now. It was a big learning curve today, and I think she's on the right track."
Champagne Anyone, by Street Sense , paid $17.20, $5.20, and $2.80 on a $2 wager.
Champagne Anyone was the lone entrant in Saturday's race to have run in both local Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) preps, finishing third in the Feb. 2 Forward Gal Stakes (G3) at seven furlongs and third (behind Cookie Dough) in the March 2 Davona Dale Stakes (G2) at a mile. The added sixteenth of a mile was a big help according to trainer Ian Wilkes, as was the addition of blinkers.
"I think the blinkers made her more tractable in the race," said Wilkes. "She's a filly who doesn't like (jockey) Chris (Landeros) to ask her to be in the race. I had to do something to where she took Chris into the race. I wasn't worried where she was today. I didn't mean that I need to be on the lead. It didn't mean I had to be second. I left it up to Chris to be where I wanted to be. That's the idea with the blinkers—to get her to travel more and not dislike what Chris was doing on her."
Champagne Anyone picked up 100 points and now sits in first place on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard. Dunbar Road earned 40 points, Cookie Dough 20 points, and fourth-place finisher Point of Honor earned 10 points.
"(The Kentucky Oaks) has been our whole goal," Wilkes said. "We made the plan—we went in the Golden Rod (Stakes, G2) last year to get experience and come back and start at seven-eighths, a mile, a mile and a sixteenth. I felt the filly needed racing. She's a filly that's still learning. If I ran her once, twice, she wouldn't be ready for the Oaks. That's why I felt I had to get more racing, more miles, more racing into her."
Owned by Brad Stephens' Six Column Stables and Randall Bloch, Champagne Anyone was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings out of the Ghostzapper mare Lucevan, who foaled a Wilburn colt in 2018. Lucevan is a half sister to Miss Loren, a champion in Argentina who was also a grade 1 winner in Southern California. Champagne Anyone was purchased by John Seiler for $70,000 from Summerfield's consignment to the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and holds a 3-0-3 record from seven starts, with earnings of $267,950.