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Quiet Oasis breaks through in Wilshire

Quiet Oasis (blue silks) prevails over dead-heaters Antares World and Briecat (right), with favored Nereid fourth (left) (Benoit Photos) Jockey Mario Gutierrez, who will guide J. Paul Reddam's I'll Have Another in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, got Derby week off to an auspicious start by capturing Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Wilshire Handicap aboard Quiet Oasis in the very same silks. An overlay at 15-1, the Ben Cecil filly rallied smartly to collar pacesetter Briecat and earn her first career stakes victory. Quiet Oasis sped the mile over Hollywood Park's firm turf in 1:34 3/5 and sparked mutuels of $33.20, $12.60 and $6.40. The Irish-bred Quiet Oasis, who nearly doubled her bankroll to $122,413 from her 8-3-1-1 line, had previously shown glimmers of talent. Originally based with Brian Meehan in England, the daughter of Oasis Dream finished a close fourth in her stakes debut in the Group 3 C.L. Weld Park Stakes and seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Quiet Oasis stayed stateside and joined Cecil ahead of a 2011 campaign, which barely had a chance to get going. After missing by inches to Cambina in the Grade 3 La Habra on the downhill turf at Santa Anita, she was sidelined for nearly eight months. She returned to action with a good-looking 2 3/4-length allowance score, booking her a ticket to the November 25 Grade 1 Matriarch, where she faded to sixth.

Making her four-year-old bow in the Wilshire, over the same course and distance as the Matriarch, Quiet Oasis finally put it all together with new rider Gutierrez. The bay broke like a shot, but was settled in third behind the loose-on-the-lead Briecat, who carved out fractions of :23 3/5, :47 3/5 and 1:11. Although Briecat was still rolling into the stretch, Quiet Oasis made good headway inside the final furlong. The longtime leader tried to hang on, but the relentless Quiet Oasis got up by a half-length.

Antares World, the 46-1 longest shot on the board, raced in second much of the way. Finishing well, she joined Briecat on the wire and forced a dead heat for second. Nereid, the 6-5 favorite, raced too far off the pace to pose a serious threat. Nevertheless, Nereid hit her best stride late for a solid fourth, just a half-length behind the joint runners-up. Wild Mia, Go Forth North, Up in Time and Imperialistic Diva rounded out the order of finish.

Bred by Breeding Capital PLC and Swettenham Stud, Quiet Oasis has now equaled the resume of her full brother, French Group 3 hero Young Pretender. They were produced by the winning Sunday Silence mare Silent Heir, who is in turn a half-sister to Australian Group 3 scorer Castlethorpe.

Quiet Oasis' third dam, English and Irish champion Park Express, is responsible for European champion and Group 1 Epsom Derby star New Approach, multiple Japanese stakes victor Shinko Forest and Group 3 queen Dazzling Park. Irish Group 1 winner Alfred Nobel is likewise descended from Park Express.

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