Tenma, Anna's Promise, Ballerina d'Oro, and Fondly breezed April 26 at Churchill Downs in preparation for the May 2 Kentucky Oaks (G1).
On a drying-out Churchill Downs main track listed as "good" during the exclusive training period reserved for Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby (G1) competitors, grade 1 winner Tenma went a half mile in :48 2/5 and Anna's Promise covered five furlongs in 1:00 2/5. About two hours later, over a track upgraded to fast, Ballerina d'Oro breezed a half-mile in :48 and Fondly five furlongs in 1:02 1/5
West Coast standout Tenma—trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for owner Baoma Corp. and entered off a victory in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2)—was clocked in splits of :12 and :36. She galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.
"I loved what I saw. She got over the track very well," Baffert said.
A winner of five of six starts, with her only loss a third in the 2024 Oak Leaf Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park—Tenma enters the Kentucky Oaks following three consecutive victories in graded company. She took the Starlet Stakes (G2) late last year at Los Alamitos Race Course before capturing the Feb. 2 Las Virgenes Stakes (G3) and April 5 Santa Anita Oaks, both at Santa Anita.
Her winning time in the Santa Anita Oaks was slow—1 1/16 miles in 1:46.15—which Baffert attributes to her not being as comfortable on a surface he said was deep and tiring. Other races from the Nyquist filly were faster.
Baffert is a three-time Oaks winner, having captured the race with Silverbulletday (1999), Plum Pretty (2011), and Abel Tasman (2017).
More Oaks Workers
Trainer Graham Motion opted to send out Kentucky Oaks hopeful Fondly at 9 a.m., after the break. Well within herself under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., the Virginia Oaks winner smoothly breezed five furlongs in 1:02 1/5.
"We're only six days from the race, so I didn't want to do very much with her," Motion said. "I didn't want to have a silly work here. Irad seems very happy with her, and I kind of left things up to him just to get her over the track really."
Ortiz continues to be impressed by the lightly raced daughter of Upstart he guided to victory in the Virginia Oaks. Fractional times in Saturday's work included :24 3/5 for a quarter mile and three furlongs in :37 3/5. She galloped out in 1:15 1/5.
"She's very professional; she has a great mind," said Ortiz, who will be named to ride Fondly when the Oaks field is drawn Saturday evening. "That's one thing I've liked about her since day one when I get up on her at Palm Meadows (training center); she caught my attention."
Ortiz said that intelligence could help Fondly when she starts in an expected field of 14 3-year-old fillies in Friday's 1 1/8-mile test before a massive crowd.
"With that crowd, younger horses will get excited," Ortiz said. "She's got a great mind, so that will be one thing that helps her."
Fondly did not start as a juvenile and will enter the Kentucky Oaks off just two races, both wins this winter. Because Motion couldn't find a maiden race with the correct timing at Gulfstream Park, Fondly was shipped to Tampa Bay Downs, where she won her debut—posting a four-length score in that seven-furlong test on Valentine's Day.
Off that debut, Motion entered the daughter of Upstart in the Virginia Oaks March 15 at Colonial Downs. In that one-turn test at 1 1/16 miles, Fondly raced first or second with Anonima early, put that one away, and had enough to hold off a late run from Early On. Motion acknowledged he wouldn't typically be thinking about the Kentucky Oaks off of two wins but noted that the half sister to last year's Peter Pan Stakes (G3) winner, Antiquarian, should like the 1 1/8-mile distance and will bring class.
"She's up against it. It's a third start and strong field," Motion said of the filly who arrived at Churchill April 23. "I know she's up against it, but maybe a filly like her can handle it, because she is so, so smart and takes it in."
"I mean, it's certainly something that I wouldn't do with every horse, but I think with a filly like her who's got such class; I think she's cut out to do this."
In completing that half-mile in :48 for trainer Chad Brown, Gazelle Stakes (G3) winner Ballerina d'Oro posted furlong splits of :12 1/5 and :24 1/5 and galloped out 1:00 4/5.
Trainer Carlos David sent out Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) runner-up Anna's Promise for a five-furlong breeze. In completing that breeze in 1:00 2/5, the daughter of Promises Fulfilled registered fractions of :12 4/5 for a furlong, 24 4/5, :36 2/5, and galloped out in 1:13 3/5.
Take Charge Milady's Oaks Participation in Doubt
Trainer Kenny McPeek said Take Charge Milady is dealing with a foot abscess and will enter the Kentucky Oaks but may not be able to run.
"We're dealing with that and we don't know if we have enough time to get that together," he said Saturday morning. "There's a chance she could miss the race. It's minor, but at the same time, timing's a little bit tricky."
The Take Charge Indy filly owned by James Ball, Magdalena Racing, and Kenneth Rhodes broke her maiden at Oaklawn Park before winning the Martha Washington Stakes there. She was 10th in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) before a quarter crack led to her skipping Oaklawn's Fantasy Stakes (G2) and running in the Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, after the quarter crack was stitched, where she finished second.
"She ran a really good race in the Ashland, a race that justifies her being a Kentucky Oaks filly, but the little abscess—it's just a small (one) at the top of her (right front) coronet band—the timing's really bad," McPeek said.
McPeek said the abscess will be treated, "but there's not a lot you can do with it, really. It's in a tricky spot. This is like someone having a bad hangnail, and it's nothing life-threatening whatsoever. When you're dealing with a horse's hoof, quarter cracks are a pretty common issue that we deal with. But typically we can fix them and certainly with a little bit of time you can fix them. But at this point we're going to enter her, and we're going to see what kind of week we have. And if we have a good week, great, and if we don't, then she might not run."
The filly trained and cooled out well on Saturday, McPeek said, "but that little abscess wants to irritate her. ... We've just got to see if we can get her 100% by next weekend."
