Always a Runner defies inexperience to win Kentucky Oaks

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Always a Runner entered the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) on Friday, the least experienced of the 13 three-year-old fillies in the field. She exited the Oaks as the pro team leader of her generation after a seemingly historic, though not surprising, win in the 1 1/8-mile fixture at Churchill Downs.

Sidelined by pneumonia at two, Always a Runner had but two previous starts prior to the Oaks. After easily prevailing as an odds-on choice in her debut, at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 6, Always a Runner qualified for the Oaks with a 1 1/4-length success in the April 4 Gazelle (G3) at Aqueduct.

Her limited race history didn't seem to deter bettors. In a wide-open edition of the Oaks, the first ever conducted under lights, four fillies eventually left the starting gate at odds of 5-1. One of them was Always a Runner, who officially went off as the third choice behind Zany and Percy's War, the respective second and first-place finishers in the Ashland (G1).

Under Jose Ortiz, Always a Runner enjoyed a relatively clean trip. Positioned in eighth down the backside, but no more than four lengths behind pacesetting Explora, Always a Runner began picking up horses around the far turn. Moving up to third turning for home, Always a Runner gradually wore down the California-based fillies, Meaning and Explora, to win going away by 1 1/4 lengths.

Owned in partnership by Three Chimneys Farm, which bred Always a Runner, and Douglas Scharbauer, the Chad Brown trainee covered 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:48.82 and paid $13.04.

Meaning, the fourth choice among the five fillies at 5-1, finished one length ahead of Counting Stars, who nabbed Explora by a neck for third in the final strides. Following Explora under the wire were Prom Queen, Zany, Percy's Bar, Dazzling Dame, Resist, Search Party, Pashmina, Lovely Grey, and Brooklyn Blonde.

"It's been quite a journey," Brown said. "This horse came to me last summer, and you could tell right away from the first work that she had unbelievable ability.

"This filly was struggling," added Brown, reflecting on Always a Runner's bout with pneumonia. "I mean, she had a severe case, had been in a clinic for over a month. It's just remarkable. I have a lot of nice horses in my care, and I've seen a lot of different setbacks with horses, but this is way up at the top of the list of perseverance for a horse to overcome things."

Bred in Kentucky, Always a Runner is by Gun Runner and out of the Grade 2-placed Always Carina, by Malibu Moon.

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