Either Arkansas Derby or Fantasy Stakes for On Fire Baby with Kentucky Derby still in the picture
Winner of the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Anita Cauley’s 3-year-old homebred filly, On Fire Baby, plans for the next race are still up in the air, and the connections cannot at the moment, whether to go for the all filly encounter in the Grade
2 Fantasy Stakes on 11 April, 2012, or try out with the males in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on 14 April, 2012.
Both races are run at Oaklawn Park with Fantasy Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, the Arkansas Derby is shaping up to be a tough spot with 1 1/8 miles to cover against the males, but if she has to fulfil her Kentucky Derby plans, than Arkansas Derby looks like a viable
spot for the Smoke Glacken filly.
Where ever the filly ends up, right now she has been training well and looks race ready already. Gary Hartlage trained Kentucky bred out of mare Ornate by Gilded Time, On Fire Baby has impressed her connections with her training.
On 27 March, at Oaklawn Park, On Fire Baby went seven furlongs in a quick time of 1 minute and 27 4/5 seconds.
"Everything is going according to plan and if you don't like how she worked (yesterday), you don't like apple pie," said Hartlage in a release. "It was just like we drew it on the board."
If On Fire Baby opts for the Grade 2 Fantasy Derby, than she will be set up for a rematch with the Honeybee Stakes rival, Amie’s Dini, who finished a close second to On Fire Baby on 10 March, 2012, at about 1 1/16 miles.
"I didn't know Joe could get her to go that slow, but he did it," said Hartlage. “We wanted her to relax and finish strong, and she did just that. Now we are ready for both of them. I might not even have to breeze her again before her next race. I wouldn't
have to change a thing to get there now."
However, a berth in the Kentucky Derby would be the right way to go for the filly, and her connections would be looking to bypass the Fantasy and go for the Arkansas Derby.
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