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Curlin’s Voyage Remains Early Favorite Among 36 Fillies Eligible For Woodbine Oaks

Woodbine Entertainment released an updated list today of Canadian-bred three-year-old fillies eligible to the 65th running of the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser, set for Saturday, Aug. 15.

A total of 36 fillies, including four supplements, have been nominated to the 1 1/8-mile opening leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara following the July 1 sustaining payment deadline.

Sovereign Award winner Curlin's Voyage stamped herself as an early favorite for the mid-August affair following her Fury Stakes triumph on Sunday at Woodbine. The Curlin-Atlantic Voyage filly has won half of her eight career starts, including the Grade 3 Mazarine and Ontario Lassie, while earning nearly $365,000 for breeder Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and co-owner Windsor Boys Racing.

Owlette was impressive in her season's debut, capturing the Star Shoot Stakes over Curlin's Voyage on June 13 for trainer Wesley Ward and Ten Broeck Farm. The daughter of Frac Daddy and Itstartswithadream has finished no worse than second in six career starts while earning just over $300,000 and boasts additional stakes wins in the Shady Well and Victorian Queen.

Other stakes-winning fillies that remain eligible to the Oaks include Princess Elizabeth champion Cool Shadows, a Chiefswood Stables homebred trained by Stuart Simon, and Roger Attfield's South Ocean Stakes winner Gun Society.

The high-profile filly Infinite Patience, co-owned by NHL star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and breeder William DeCoursey, was a gutsy third in last weekend's Fury after going five-for-five in her freshman campaign at Hastings Racecourse. The Sungold-Montero filly has been supplemented to the Oaks for $2,500 along with Curlin's Tiger, Lasting Union and River of Pearls.

The list of eligibles includes Ann of Cleves, who is a half-sister to 2015 Woodbine Oaks champion Academic. Ricky Griffith trains the Verrazano-Awesome Lass filly for Racing Canada and John Phillip Brown.

NK Racing's contender Sansa's Vow is a full-sister to Tone Broke, winner of two-thirds of last year's Canadian Triple Crown (Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes). Unraced at two, the Broken Vow-Mendocino Beano miss broke her maiden when making her second career start in a 1-1/16 mile-turf race on June 21 for trainer Josie Carroll.

Sam-Son Farm, owner and breeder of last year's Oaks champion Desert Ride, has three nominees including Raven's Song. The Medaglia d'Oro-Song of the Lark filly is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes champion Up With the Birds, who was a close runner-up in the Queen's Plate and winner of the Breeders' Stakes during his 2013 Horse of the Year campaign.

Another filly with Triple Crown pedigree is Itskathiesluckyday, trained by Mike Keogh for The Estate of Gustav Schickedanz. Sired by Itsmyluckyday, the maiden filly's dam Half Sister is in fact a half-sister to Triple Crown winner Wando.

Fifty-eight fillies were originally nominated to the 2020 Woodbine Oaks.

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Jockey Gerard Melancon, Lone Star Racing Operations Employee Test Positive For Coronavirus

Following Sunday's announcement that live racing at Lone Star Park had been cancelled, the Daily Racing Form reported that jockey Gerard Melancon, who most recently rode at Lone Star on June 28, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Additionally, a positive test was returned by a racing operations employee at the Grand Prairie, Texas track.

Lone Star abruptly cancelled the race card on Sunday after the first race, making the announcement via Twitter. Race cards for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday have also been cancelled.

“Due to an abundance of caution, all racing operations at Lone Star Park have been suspended due to COVID-19,” read Sunday's Tweet. “Racing will resume at a date to be determined.”

Melancon, normally based in Louisiana, rode Mocito Rojo in the $75,000 Lone Star Mile on June 28, and had a fever when he returned to Opelousas, La. on June 29. He improved and a “rapid test” for the virus on June 30 came back negative, so he arrived at Evangeline Downs to ride the July 1 card. Melancon felt dizzy before the races, however, and went to the ambulance and then the hospital where he was diagnosed with acute pneumonia.

Another test for coronavirus came back positive, and Melancon has quarantined himself at home.

The racing operations employee who tested positive has been instructed to self-quarantine as well.

Because of potential exposure to coronavirus, jockeys and employees working in the licensing and racing offices are being told to quarantine for two weeks. It's unclear when racing may resume, but Lone Star may have an opportunity to extend their meet, which is currently scheduled to end on Aug. 11.

Lone Star was forced to delay the start of its live meet until May 22. On June 10, Lone Star management was notified by officials that spectators would be permitted on-track as Texas became one of the first states to reopen its economy.

After an alarming spike in COVID-19 positive tests throughout Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on July 2 issued an order requiring face coverings in public and giving local officials authority to limit the size of gatherings.

Indiana Grand announced Monday that no individuals from Lone Star will be allowed on the property until they complete a 14-day quarantine and present a negative test for COVID-19:

“Due to the recent news of several positive tests for Covid-19 at Lone Star Park near Dallas, Texas and the suspension of their racing season indefinitely, Indiana Grand Racing and Casino has halted the transfer of all jockeys, exercise riders and grooms from that facility to the racing program in Indiana.

“The decision to prevent participants coming from Lone Star Park into Indiana is a result of a group effort between Indiana Grand, the horsemen's organizations and Indiana Horse Racing Commission, to provide due diligence for the safety of all those currently racing at Indiana Grand.”

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‘Unlucky The Last Two Races,’ Major Fed Tries To Get Back In Gear In Indiana Derby

Trainer Greg Foley believes Major Fed is an extremely good horse, the lifelong Louisvillian even allowing himself thoughts of having his first Kentucky Derby starter after Lloyd Madison Farms' 3-year-old colt impressively won a 1 1/16-mile maiden race on New Year's Day.

But now is crunch time. Belief isn't enough. The Churchill Downs-based Foley says he needs to be proven right in Wednesday's $300,000, 1 1/8-mile Indiana Derby, in which Major Fed will break from post 8 in the field of 10. The son of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper is the 7-2 second choice behind 3-1 favorite Winning Impression.

“If this horse can't run good in this race, we don't need to think about the Kentucky Derby anymore,” Foley said. “Not saying we have to win, but we have to run really good in it. If he doesn't, our Derby hopes are probably at the end. But the horse is going great, and we're expecting a big race.”

Major Fed ranks 17th on the leader board with 30 points toward qualifying for the delayed Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. A win in the Indiana Derby — worth 20 points —would virtually assure Major Fed a spot, with still time for one more prep race.

Named for 20-time Grand Slam singles winner Roger Federer, Major Fed won on his second attempt after adding blinkers and stretching out in distance at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. That encouraged Foley to run him in a division of the Grade 2 Risen Star, with Major Fed a bit wide on both turns but closing well to finish second by a total of a length.

The march to the Derby then hit a couple snags.

Major Fed drew the rail in a 14-horse field in the Louisiana Derby, breaking slowly to trail the field then coming extremely wide on the far turn to finish a rallying fourth. The trip only got worse in his next start, Churchill Downs' Matt Winn. Breaking from the extreme outside in the 10-horse field, Major Fed was wide and wider on both turns, languishing home last through the stretch.

“I think he's been very unlucky the last two races,” Foley said. “He went from the 1 hole in the Louisiana Derby. He turned his head when they broke and he got left. He was five lengths behind the next-to-last horse going into the first turn, so he had to be 15, 20 lengths out of it. I thought with a decent break that day, if he doesn't win then he's right there. Then the last race, we were in the outside hole, the total opposite. The ground kind of broke out from under him leaving there so he didn't get away great.

“I think you can draw a big line through that race. Maybe I'm wrong. If he doesn't run well in this one, I'd say maybe he just isn't that type. But I don't see that… He's no bad gate horse. He's smart. He doesn't do anything wrong. It's just whatever you want to call it. Bad luck is all I can call it.”

James Graham, the 2019 leading rider at Ellis Park, will ride Major Fed in a race for the first time.

“He's a good rider, and I'm confident in him,” Foley said. “I want somebody who is going to sit still and finish on the horse. I mean, James can ride a variety of ways, but I think he's a good 'sit still and finish strong' rider – and that's what I want on this horse.”

Graham was aboard for a sparkling workout at Churchill Downs, when Major Fed cruised five-eighths of a mile in 1:01 on June 25.

“He worked really well. He picked up, and he kept picking up, which you're going to need in a really good horse,” Graham said. “I liked the way he went off. He went off in 12-flat, picked up down the lane, picked up again on his gallop out. So, I was really happy with that.

“He showed he could run a little bit in a couple of races at the Fair Grounds. He got not a great trip the last time he ran, ran against some good quality. Let's see if we can muster up some more points. He's a solid horse. He does everything you need.”

This year's road to the historic delayed Kentucky Derby is littered with defections to some of the most prominent contenders, including the winners of the Arkansas Derby (Charlatan), Louisiana Derby (Welles Bayou), Rebel (Nadal), Matt Winn (Maxfield) and a division of the Risen Star (Mr. Monomoy).

“He deserves a crack at it,” Graham said. “Because come September, who's going to be left around? We don't know. Hoping some of the heavy heads have to go and take a little bit of a break come September, which I doubt they will. But it's just the way it is. Everybody is pointing to September. If the horse runs good in the Indiana Derby, he's got a good chance to go on to the Kentucky Derby.”

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Enable Showed ‘Zest And Desire’ In Sunday’s Coral-Eclipse Defeat By Ghaiyyath

Champion racemare Enable, kept in training for 2020 to seek a third victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, began her 6-year-old season with a strong second in Sunday's Group 1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. The John Gosden-trained Juddmonte mare was defeated 2 1/4 lengths by frontrunner Ghaiyyath, but fended off challenges from Japan, Magic Wand, and Deirdre.

“We're delighted with that, she ran a gorgeous race,” Gosden told racingpost.com. “We know about Ghaiyyath and Sandown is a great front-runner's track. We're very happy. She enjoyed it and the zest and desire was there, but trying to get involved with a front-running horse like him was never going to be her deal.”

Gosden said Enable was only 85 percent fit for Sunday's race, and jockey Frankie Dettori confirmed that the mare was a bit tired in the final 100 yards.

Up next, plans call for Enable to try for a record-setting three-peat in the King George at Ascot on July 25. The mare's major year-end target is a historic third win in the Arc, a goal she fell just short of last year when Waldgeist ran her down over the very soft ground at York.

Enable won the Arc in 2017 and 2018, and became the first horse in history to win the Arc and the Breeders' Cup Turf in the same season when she crossed the wire first at Churchill Downs in November 2018.