Yuugiri is scheduled to breeze Monday morning at Oaklawn in advance of her scheduled comeback race this month in Arkansas or California, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said Saturday afternoon.
Yuugiri was among Oaklawn's leading 3-year-old fillies last season after finishing third in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) and winning the Fantasy Stakes (G3). Both races were 1 1/16 miles. Yuugiri hasn't started since finishing 13th in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) going 1 1/8 miles May 6 at Churchill Downs.
Following a 60-day vacation, Yuugiri resumed training around Labor Day and had seven published workouts since Oct. 12. The last four have come at Oaklawn.
“I thought it was time to give her a break,” Brisset said. “She has done super, like she has really, really changed physically, put weight on. So, I'm going to go race by race. The first step is breeze on Monday.”
Brisset said Yuugiri is eyeing a six-furlong allowance race Dec. 18 at Oaklawn and the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (G1) at seven furlongs Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.
“Plan B is the La Brea at Santa Anita,” Brisset said. “Hopefully, the race here will go.”
Regardless of where she runs next, Brisset said he intends to target shorter races in 2023 for Yuugiri, who has compiled a 2-2-1 record from six starts and earned $556,110. She is a daughter of 2011 Preakness (G1) winner Shackleford.
“More than likely, we're going to keep her to one turn,” Brisset said. “She won at a mile and a sixteenth here, so maybe she can run a mile here. But more than likely, we're going to keep her around one turn.”
Oaklawn's beefed-up stakes series for older female sprinters is highlighted by the inaugural $250,000 Matron March 31. The Matron is preceded by the $150,000 American Beauty Jan. 21 and the $150,000 Carousel Feb. 25. All three races are six furlongs.
“We'll map something out,” Brisset said. “I'm going to take it race by race.”
Brisset, WinStar Farm's in-house trainer, is wintering at Oaklawn for the second time. He has 20 stalls for the 2022-2023 meeting that began Friday. Brisset compiled a sparkling 8-6-5 record from 31 starts last season at Oaklawn, with his horses earning $962,745 in purse money.
“We have an OK group,” Brisset said. “Some of these look like they'll need a race or two to figure out what we're going to ask, but I'm sure through the winter they're going to show their true talents. Hopefully, we have something that can go on to the big stage, Oaks and Derby. Kind of the same idea we had last year. Now, we have to see if anybody will take us there.”
In addition to getting Yuugiri to the Kentucky Oaks, the Brisset-trained We the People was an eye-catching winner of his first two career starts at Oaklawn before missing a chance to secure a spot in the Kentucky Derby with a seventh-place finish in the Arkansas Derby (G1) last April.
We the People, a son of Constitution co-owned by WinStar, became a Grade 3 winner and concluded his 3-year-old campaign with an eighth-place finish in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) Sept. 24 at Parx.
“We gave him some time, 60 days, and he should be on his way back, starting to jog, pretty soon,” Brisset said. “I don't think he's going to make it back here.”
The post Brisset: Former Kentucky Oaks starter Yuugiri Nearing Return At Oaklawn, We The People To Start Jogging Soon Following Layoff appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
