Plum Pretty meets four in Apple Blossom

The defection of 2011 winner and Horse of the Year Havre de Grace has left

Friday's Grade 1, $500,000

Apple

Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park with a field of five. However, it's the

exact same number of fillies and mares that broke from the gate in the 1

1/16-mile fixture the past three years when Havre de Grace, Zenyatta and Seventh

Street proved victorious.

Ostensibly removed from consideration last weekend due to an unfavorable

weight spread, Havre de Grace will now point toward the Grade 2 La Troienne at

Churchill Downs on May 4. Favoritism in the Apple Blossom now shifts to Plum

Pretty, the Bob Baffert-trained filly who makes her four-year-old debut in this

spot.

Behind Royal Delta, It's Tricky, and Zazu in the pecking order of

three-year-old fillies last season, Plum Pretty earned signature victories in

the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Grade 2 Cotillion and Sunland Park Oaks, the latter

by 25 lengths. She also ran second in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks

and Grade 2 Hollywood Oaks, but a late bid for championship honors was derailed

in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic when she weakened to fifth after

setting a moderate pace over a tiring track.

The speedy daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, who breaks from post 5, could have

company near the front but is also capable of tracking slightly off the pace.

That strategy proved useful in the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks, enabling her to see

out the distance over a fast-charging St John's River.

Absinthe Minded is the Apple Blossom's other primary speed. The D. Wayne

Lukas pupil captured the Pippin and Bayakoa earlier in the Oaklawn meet, but was

undone by a more pressured pace in the Grade 3 Azeri on March 17. Fourth as the

odds-on choice in that heat, she will attempt to improve on her third-place

effort behind Havre de Grace in the 2011 Apple Blossom.

Tiz Miz Sue, who benefited from the solid early pace in the Azeri, won that 1

1/16-mile prep by three lengths in what was easily a career-best effort. It was

the first victory in nine attempts over the Oaklawn strip for the five-year-old

mare, whose number Absinthe Minded clearly had in prior showdowns at the Hot

Springs oval.

The pride of Sunland Park, the seven-year-old veteran Twelve Twenty Two,

invades from the New Mexico for trainer Henry Dominguez. She's won seven in a

row at her home track, and counts consecutive renewals of the Harry Henson

Handicap among her four stakes wins. While her average margin of victory at

Sunland is an impressive 6 1/4 lengths, her last race outside the friendly

confines of home resulted in a last-place finish in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff

at Churchill Downs last May.

Holy Heavens, who distantly placed in the Grade 2 Fantasy and Grade 3

Honeybee at Oaklawn last year, will be the outsider in the field if she goes.

Only fourth against third-level allowance foes last time, she also holds an

entry for the $100,000 Red Bud on Thursday.

The supporting feature on Friday's program is the $100,000

Instant

Racing, a one-mile test for three-year-old fillies. The field of 12 includes

Morrow Cove, a Gulfstream maiden winner trained by Todd Pletcher, and stakes

winners Glinda the Good and Yvete Sangalo.