Royal Delta and Plum Pretty gear up among 3 other top fillies to take on each other in the Coaching Club American Oaks
The $250,000, Grade 1 TVG Coaching Club American Oaks drew a concise field, but it reeled in the best five 3-year-old fillies in the country in the headliner race at Saratoga on 24 July.
The meet covers a distance of 1 1/8 miles and it will prominently decide who tops the division honours for this year.
The most favoured for the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks is the daughter of Empire Maker, Royal Delta.
The 3-year-old filly is trained by William Mott for owner Saud Bin Khalid and has won 3 races out of 4 career starts.
Breaking her maiden in her first attempt, Royal Delta went on to win the 1 mile event under jockey J Lezcano on 30 October, 2010.
She took care of her rivals, Status Pending and Bernardette, in the final furlong, covering the distance in 1 minute and 37.77 seconds at Belmont Park.
The three-year-old filly’s first defeat came in her second start at Tampa Bay Downs in the Suncoast race where she finished 9th on 12 March, 2011. Since then she had two starts resulting in two of two.
Royal Delta has entered the CCA Oaks, but her major goal is to start in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes to challenge the Queen’s Plate winner, Inglorious.
The other four candidates are equally favourites to win the race, with the likes of Plum Pretty, Joyful Victory, It’s Tricky and Buster’s Ready.
The Bob Baffert trained filly, Plum Pretty got shipped in from California to participate in the Grade 1 CCA Oaks.
The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro is coming off a runner up finish in the Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks under jockey M Garcia. It covered a distance of 1 1/16 mile at Hollywood Park on 25 June, 2011.
Prior to the second place finish, Plum Pretty was coming off a consecutive wins in two starts. First one was at the Grade 3Sunland Park in the Grade 3 Sunland Park Oaks at a distance of 1 1/16 miles under jockey M Garcia on 27 March 2011.
To round up her second graded stakes win, Plum Pretty entered the field for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
She hadn’t run at a distance of 1 1/8 miles before, her longest was 1 1/16miles, but managed to cover the distance in 1 minute and 49.50 seconds. Royal Delta completed her successful run at Churchill Downs on 6 May 2011 under her usual mount M Garcia.
After the CCA Oaks, Plum Pretty is destines to go for the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes and after that her goal is to go for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic on 4 November, 2011.
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