On Fire Baby and Grace Hall could engage in a pulsating duo at the start of the Oaks
As we draw closer to the Derby, on the Kentucky Derby eve there is the filly counterpart, the Grade 1, $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on 4 May, 2012, and it is still being said that the Kentucky Derby has drawn a seriously difficult field, but
the Kentucky Oaks looks to be a competitive one as well.
Sure Grace Hall has been installed as the favourite at the morning line, but there are seriously good fillies which give out the possibility of a different result at every turn, but Grace Hall has done enough in her juvenile and her sophomore season that
she has earned the status she has today.
The Tony Dutrow trained 3-year-old filly is the daughter of the 2003 Kentucky Derby runner up, Empire Maker, and last year coming at Churchill Downs she stayed undefeated in three starts, before falling off her mark to finish second in the Grade 1 Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Fillies to cap off her 2011 season.
“I don’t think Grace Hall could be in any better physical condition, mental condition,” Dutrow said. “In preparing her for the Oaks, I don’t think it could have gone any better, period.”
Out of Ezzoud mare by Season’s Greeting, Grace Hall has done well so far at this season, as she started off proceedings with a second place finish to winner Yara in the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes, but she atoned for her defeat in the Grade 2 Gulfstream
Oaks.
She won the 1 1/8 mile race, first time to be stretched out at that distance, Grace Hall defeated Zo Impressive in second and Hearts of Red in third.
With Grace Hall’s credentials shining so brightly, there is another who picked up the pace right after faltering in her first two career starts.
On Fire Baby drew the rail, and the real pace will come from these two fillies, Grace Hall and On Fire Baby.
“The filly’s done everything right the last couple of weeks, so we’re going to walk her over there with confidence,” said Hartlage, a popular Churchill veteran with a huge local following.
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