Victory U. S. A., will be shipped to New Orleans for the Fair Grounds Oaks.
Thomas Van Meter's stakes winner Victory U. S. A. will most likely make her first start of the year in Saturday‚s $300,000 Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II), trainer Bob Baffert said Monday after the chestnut daughter of Victory Gallop--Fordyce, by Cox's Ridge worked six furlongs in a bullet 1:11 4/5 under regular exercise rider Dana Barnes at Santa Anita. Victory U. S. A. hasn't started since finishing fourth in the Dec. 21 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (gr. I). "She worked awesome today," Baffert said. "The way she worked got me seriously thinking about running her there, but I can't find a rider. I need to find a rider for her."Victory U. S. A. won the Moccasin Stakes last year and was also second in the Frizette Stakes (gr. I) and third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and Del Mar Debutante (gr. I). Overall she owns a career line of 6-2-1-2 for earnings of $350,370.
