Oaks also-runs all exit race in good shape

Broadway's Alibi was doing fine Saturday morning after her second-place

finish behind Believe You Can in Friday's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Stable manager

Anna Ford reported that the three-year-old daughter of Vindication will ship to

Belmont Park on Sunday.

"We'll take a couple weeks (before deciding on her next start)," Ford said.

"We'll take our time. We're not in any hurry."

Although Broadway's Alibi lost by three-quarters of a length after setting

the pace, her connections were pleased with her effort under John Velazquez.

"Johnny said he could feel her struggling a little bit (with the track),

which is amazing that she managed to do as good as she did," Ford said.

The beaten favorite in Friday's Kentucky Oaks, Grace Hall, came out of her

third-place finish in good order, trainer Tony Dutrow reported Saturday morning.

"She's very good," said Dutrow, whose filly will ship Sunday to Delaware Park

or Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.

Dutrow offered no excuses on the morning-after Grace Hall's performance in

which she closed from sixth under Javier Castellano to third without menacing

respective 1-2 finishers Believe You Can and Broadway's Alibi.

"She just didn't run fast enough," he said. "I thought we got a dream trip

and we were unable to run them down."

Dutrow offered no immediate plans for the Empire Maker filly, noting that the

Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga on August 18 and the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on

September 22 as likely goals.

Summer Applause came out of her fourth-place effort in "perfect" condition,

according to Mark Cornett, racing manager for her ownership group. The Harlan's

Holiday filly likely will get about six weeks off before pointing for an

undetermined race in June to set her up for late-summer tries in the Coaching

Club American Oaks and Alabama, both Grade 1s to be run at Saratoga.

"Our next goal is to get her Grade 1-placed, at least, or hopefully a Grade 1

win," Cornett said. "Since she's already a stakes winner it's important to get

that Grade 1 placing for that residual value."

The Kentucky Oaks may sting a bit more, Cornett suggested, knowing that they

beat the winner on the square two starts back. At the same time, that result

bolsters Summer Applause's reputation, who Cornett says has proven herself to be

among the top three-year-old fillies in the country.

"Broadway's Alibi and Believe You Can really had it their own way on the

front end, I thought," Cornett said. "They were both sitting up there very

relaxed and comfortable with their ears pricked. When Eden's Moon didn't break

that really messed up the pace scenario. When you look back the only filly that

really closed any ground was Summer Applause."

Trainer Gary Hartlage said that On Fire Baby came out of her fifth-place

finish in Friday's Kentucky Oaks in good order.

"We live to fight another day," Hartlage said of the Smoke Glacken

half-sister to High Heels, who had finished third in the 2007 Kentucky Oaks.

"The hole was there, but she just didn't fire."

The next start for On Fire Baby is undetermined.

"We haven't even thought about that yet," Hartlage admitted.

Aside from taking a lot of dirt during the running of the Oaks, Hard Not to

Like exited her sixth-place run race in good shape according to her trainer,

Gail Cox. The Hard Spun filly, who was trying a conventional dirt track for the

first time in the Oaks, left Churchill Downs Saturday at 5 a.m. (EST) aboard a

van heading back to the trainer's headquarters at Woodbine near Toronto.

"I went by the barn this morning to get her on the van," Cox said, "and then

I got ready to fly back home." As for Cox's experience, she said, "It was just a

wonderful experience. Everything was nice at the track."

Sacristy split the 14 Oaks fillies with a seventh-place finish, and came out

of the race with no notable issues, reported Kelsey Danner, assistant to trainer

Wayne Catalano.

"She came back fine and is doing good," Danner said. "She got shuffled back

farther than we thought in the Oaks, but she tried."

Sacristy, a Pulpit sprinting filly making her first route race, rallied

mildly from last of 14. No immediate plans are set for what's next.

Trainer Ron Moquett reported that his Oaks eighth-place finisher, Amie's Dini,

exited the race no worse for the wear.

"She came back happy and perfect, just tired," Moquett said. "After that

trip, let's just say she knows what the outside rail looks like."

Amie's Dini was bumped at the start and raced wide throughout. No immediate

goals were on tap, Moquett said, but Oklahoma-based co-owner Mike Walker

indicated earlier in the week that one of the Bandini filly's major goals this

year will be the Remington Park Oaks, a race these connections won last year

with Tourmaline.

And Why Not was reported to be fine Saturday morning following her

ninth-place finish in Friday's Oaks.

"She came out fine. She's over there grazing. She ate up everything," trainer

Michael Matz said. "I was just hoping they would come back to her a little bit

more, but they didn't."

Matz said he had no immediate stakes plans for the daughter of Street Cry.

"We're just going to pick the easiest spot we can find to build back her

confidence," Matz said.

Stablemates Jemima's Pearl (10th) and Eden's Moon (14th) came out of the

Kentucky Oaks in good shape, trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday morning.

"They look fine," the horseman remarked before adding that the fillies will

head back to California for a freshening. "They didn't really run much. I'm

really disappointed that they didn't run."

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas' maiden filly Colonial Empress exited the race in good

order, the stable reported this morning. Lukas indicated that the Oaks would be

the last stakes shot before dropping back into the maiden ranks and regrouping.

The Empire Maker filly finished 11th in the Oaks after pressing the pace from a

wide draw and fading.

Jack Bohannan, assistant to trainer Rusty Arnold, said that Karlovy Vary was

doing well Saturday morning following her 12th-place finish in the Kentucky

Oaks.

"She ate a lot of mud yesterday," Bohannan explained. "I think we are going

to keep her on turf or Polytrack. We learned a lesson yesterday."

Karlovy Vary had entered the Oaks off a victory in the Grade 1 Ashland over

Keeneland's Polytrack.

"She had run such a big race over there that we had to try," Bohannan said.

Arnold indicated Karlovy Vary would ship back to her main base at Keeneland

on Monday and be pointed to the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks going 1 1/8 miles over

the Polytrack on July 21.

"I am not saying we will not try her on the dirt again," Arnold said. "But I

can say it will not be in the near future."

Yara appeared none the worse for wear while standing in her stall the morning

after a dull 13th-place effort in the Kentucky Oaks.

"She came back perfect," trainer Jose Garoffalo said. "She ate good today.

The most important thing is that she came back perfect."

The Grade 2 Davona Dale winner had a trip that was far from ideal. Her head

was cocked when the gates sprung, she raced in the back of the field behind a

pace that was softer than her connections had hoped, and she lost sight of the

leaders through the stretch. Jesus Castanon did not persist with the daughter of

Put It Back once all hope was lost and they ultimately checked in 37 1/4 lengths

behind Believe You Can.

"She doesn't like the wet track too much and she took a bad step at the

start," Garoffalo said. "It was a bad trip."

Garoffalo declined to speculate about where Yara might show up next, saying

that he will continue to monitor her recovery from the Oaks while checking the

condition books back in Florida.