Believe You Can reminiscent of Proud Spell

Brereton Jones' homebred Believe You Can was in tip-top shape

the day after her bullet five-eighths work for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in :58

2/5, according to trainer Larry

Jones, who gushed about both the breeze and her demeanor 24 hours later.

"Believe You Can is really good and

we're really excited," Larry Jones said. "She matched identical to what Proud

Spell did coming in so we feel like Proud Citizen fillies that work in

:58 2/5 are supposed to win the Oaks!

"We're very happy with her and she's always been a better workhorse than him (stablemate

and Kentucky Derby contender Mark Valeski). Some people had her as fast as

:57 4/5, but the big thing is that today she's really good, so we

won't do a lot with her going in. We'll just have some easy days, go to the

gate, go to the paddock, gallop a bit, and enjoy it."

Anita Cauley's On Fire Baby came to the Churchill Downs track at 6 a.m. (EDT) Monday

under jockey Joe Johnson. The multiple Grade 2 winner visited the

paddock and then galloped 1 1/2 miles over a fast track.

On Fire Baby is traveling a path blazed in 2007 by her half-sister High Heels,

who finished third behind eventual Belmont States winner Rags to Riches in

the Kentucky Oaks. Cauley bred and owns both fillies with Gary Hartlage as the

trainer.

One difference leading up to the Oaks is High Heels had two five-eighths works

before the Run for the Lilies here and On Fire Baby has had two seven-eighths

works.

"High Heels ran in the (Grade 2) Fantasy and On Fire Baby didn't," Hartlage said of the

difference.

Cauley made the call to come into the Oaks off a victory in the March 10

Grade 3

Honeybee at Oaklawn.

"Either race (the Fantasy or Grade 1 Arkansas Derby) would have been pretty significant

and to come back in three weeks would have been asking a lot," Cauley said. "I

wanted to have a fresh horse for the Oaks and as soon as I made the decision I

felt fine with it."

On Fire Baby has accomplished more at this stage of her career than had High

Heels. In addition to the Honeybee victory, On Fire Baby won the Grade 2 Pocahonas

and Grade 2 Golden Rod here last fall.

"With High Heels, there was not as much drama as with this horse," Cauley said.

"She had broken her maiden, won an allowance race and was second in the

Honeybee. The Fantasy was always the goal with her."

Helen K. Groves' And Why Not, who turned in a bullet half-mile workout in :46

4/5 Saturday, returned to the track at Churchill Downs Monday

morning after a day off.

The daughter of Street Cry jogged two

miles under exercise rider Peter Brette and walked through the paddock in

preparation for a scheduled start in Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

And Why Not, who finished second

behind On Fire Baby in the Pocahontas at Churchill Downs last fall, has

run only once this year, finishing seventh behind Grace Hall in the Grade 2 Gulfstream

Park Oaks on March 31.

"She came out of that race in good

order. It wasn't a track that suited her. She worked the other day as good as

any horse worked here," trainer Michael Matz said. "And the last race she ran at

Churchill she got beat a half-length by On Fire Baby."

Gillian Campbell, R Group Management and Greenwood Lodge Farm's Summer

Applause jogged one mile early in the morning for trainer Bret Calhoun.

"I think everything's on 'go," Calhoun said. "She doesn't need anything but

to get to the race now."

Summer Applause last worked on April 20 and didn't visit the track Sunday.

However, Calhoun said his filly is already completely fit and didn't need

anything more than light exercise this week.

Both of Calhoun's biggest career wins -- two $1 million scores at the 2010

Breeders' Cup World Championships -- were with horses whose so-called "missed"

training raised eyebrows. Chamberlain Bridge didn't post a work for nearly a

month after his prior start before taking the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, while

Dubai Majesty breezed over the turf 10 days out in her only official work

leading up to the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on the dirt.

"Those worked out OK," Calhoun said. "She hasn't been mentioned much but I

wouldn't trade with anybody."

Trainer Rusty Arnold was in a similar spot two years ago coming

into the Kentucky Oaks with an Alex Campbell Jr.-owned and -bred daughter of Dynaformer

who was coming off a big effort in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland.

In 2010, the filly was It's Tea Time

who ran a fast-closing second to Evening Jewel in the Ashland. This year it is Karlovy Vary, a wire-to-wire winner of the Ashland.

"It's Tea Time had not run on dirt

before the Oaks," Arnold said of the filly who finished ninth behind Blind Luck

in the Oaks. "Karlovy Vary ran here in the Golden Rod last year and she had the

10 hole and was wide most of the way."

With exercise rider Marty Metcalf up, Karlovy Vary galloped a mile Monday morning at her usual 6:15 time. Arnold said

the filly would gallop a mile and a half daily the rest of the week and school

in the paddock Tuesday afternoon.

The Golden Rod is the only dirt race

on the past performances of Karlovy Vary.

"Because of her pedigree, she started

long on the turf, but she had trained on dirt a lot before she ran," Arnold said

of Karlovy Vary, who ran third in her debut at Saratoga and then broke her

maiden at Keeneland prior to the Golden Rod.

"She has come a long way. She was a

little bit intimidated last year, but she is a different horse now. She breezes

well on the dirt and her work here Saturday was good. I can give you a lot of

opinions, but the facts will come out Friday."

Grade 3 Old Hat Stakes winner Sacristy galloped 1 1/2 miles under the Twin Spires. A two-time sprint winner who has yet to

extend around two turns in six starts, Sacristy's first Oaks hurdle will be the

1 1/8 mile distance.

"We're going to lead her over and try

her," said trainer Wayne Catalano, who had a busy morning bouncing between

Churchill Downs and Keeneland.

"The distance is a question mark for me and everyone else.

But we're taking a shot. We scoped her and she has a nice, big throat, and gets

a lot of air. That helps for distance."

Amie's

Dini, the $3,000 rags-to-riches story of the 2012 Oaks lineup, jogged a mile and galloped 1 3/8 miles this morning after the renovation

break following a day off Sunday. Arkansas-based trainer Ron Moquett said the

morning's warmer temperatures were right up their alley.

"We're from the South," he joked. "We

live for the heat."

Co-owner Mike Walker was on hand this

morning to watch his star filly and noted, "This filly has been a real thrill.

Up to this point, she really hasn't been pushed on at all."

Walker takes pride in his frugal

sales purchases, citing such other success stories as Tourmaline, a $2,500

purchase who earned $266,000 and Jill Marie, a $1,500 bargain who earned

$175,000.

"It's out of necessity I go for the

less expensive horses," Walker said. "We're just everyday people who love the

racing game."

Amie's Dini is named for Walker's

granddaughter Amie, and gets the Dini (pronounced Deanie) from sire Bandini. Jon

Court will have the Oaks mount aboard the Martha Washington Stakes winner and

Fantasy runner-up.

Colonial Empress, the Honeybee third-place finisher, galloped 1 1/2 miles

Monday morning under exercise rider Rudy Colon for Hall of Fame

trainer D. Wayne Lukas. No rider has been named on the

daughter of 2003 Kentucky Derby runner-up Empire Maker.

The maiden could give the Lukas barn its fifth Kentucky

Oaks victory, and its first since 1990. Lukas won the Oaks in 1982 with Blush

with Pride, 1984 with Lucky Lucky Lucky, 1989 with Open Mind and 1990 with

Seaside Attraction. Woody Stephens is the only trainer to

saddle five Kentucky Oaks winners.

Gillian Campbell, R Group Management Ltd. and

Greenwood Lodge Farm's Jemima's Pearl walked the shedrow Monday morning, a day

after breezing five furlongs in company with her stablemate, the Kentucky

Derby-bound colt Bodemeister.

Kaleem Shah's Eden's Moon jogged on

the track. She breezed Saturday and walked on Sunday.

"They look good," trainer Bob Baffert

said. "They came out of their works well. So far, everything is good."

Peras International's Yara galloped one mile at the Trackside Training

Center under exercise rider Mario Diaz as soon as the track opened at 6 a.m.

"It was easy," trainer Jose Garoffalo

said. "Very good. Everything's good so far."

Yara will gallop early again Tuesday

before vanning to Churchill Downs.

"They're coming to pick up the filly

here at 11 a.m. so we should be there about 11:30 a.m.," Garoffalo said.

Yara will reside in Barn 43, Stall

12.

Down in Florida at Palm Meadows Training Center, trainer Tony Dutrow sent

Grace Hall to the track Monday morning after breezing a half mile in :52 over a

sloppy track the day before.

"She's doing good. She went out and

jogged with a pony," said Dutrow, whose filly likely will be favored in Friday's

Kentucky Oaks on the strength of her 6 1/2-length triumph in the Gulfstream Park

Oaks last time out. "She leaves Palm Meadows (Tuesday morning)

at 4:30."

Owned by Michael Dubb, Bethlehem

Stables and The Elkstone Group, Grace Hall will accompany Kentucky Derby

hopefuls El Padrino, Gemologist and Take Charge Indy on the flight from Florida.

E. Paul Robsham Stables' Broadway's Alibi jogged once around

the 1 1/8-mile track at Palm Meadows Training Center Monday morning. The Todd

Pletcher trainee will also be shipped from the Boynton Beach, Florida, training

facility early Tuesday morning.

Broadway's Alibi has won her past four starts, including victories in the

Grade 2 Forward Gal at Gulfstream and the Grade 3 Comely at Aqueduct, since finishing second in her debut last summer at

Delaware Park. The Oaks will mark her two-turn debut.

Up north at Woodbine in Ontario, Canada, trainer Gail Cox continues to be happy with how Hard Not to

Like is training toward the Oaks.

"She galloped a mile and a half this morning and I'm very happy with the way

she is training. She'll head to Louisville early tomorrow (Tuesday)," Cox said.

The van ride is expected to take about 10 1/2 hours. Cox said the filly probably

will go to the track at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning, depending on how

she takes the ride.

In other Kentucky Oaks news:

Olympia Star Inc.'s Milania, fourth in the Grade 2, seven-furlong Beaumont at Keeneland,

worked a half-mile in :48 1/5 over the Polytrack at

Arlington Park. The Bernardini filly, out of 1998 Kentucky Oaks heroine and

multiple Grade 1 winner Keeper Hill, remains under consideration for the

Kentucky Oaks, trainer Gennadi Dorochenko said.

"We'll see tomorrow," Dorochenko

said. "You ask so many questions, like FBI agent."

 The Russian-born Dorochenko made

headlines across the country by winning the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on

April 1 with Hero of Order, who was 109-1.    

At Churchill, Jonathan Rey, Javier Sarmiento and Dante Zanelli Jr.'s Oaks Lily

galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Patricia Eldridge during the Oaks and

Derby training session.

"She looked great, actually," said Zanelli, the bloodstock agent who co-owns the filly and is managing her

preparations this week. "It was the best gallop she's had since she's been

here."

Oaks Lily has no graded stakes earnings but, barring any surprise entries from

fillies not known to be under consideration, needs some defections, to make the

gate.

The Post Position Draw for the Kentucky Oaks will be held Tuesday in Churchill Downs' Racing Office at 11 a.m. Post positions

for the Kentucky Oaks are determined by a traditional "pill pull" in which

horses' entry blanks are pulled simultaneously with a number pill to determine

which post a horse will break from the starting gate. The field for the Kentucky

Oaks will be limited to 14 horses with preference given to the horses with the

most graded stakes earnings.