Becky Winemiller's Wine Princess, whose sire and dam were both voted Horse of the Year, will try for consecutive graded stakes triumphs when she faces eight other 3-year-old fillies in the Indiana Oaks (gr. II) at Hoosier Park.
The 1 1/16-mile Oaks, the 11th race on the Oct. 6 card, is scheduled for 5:19 p.m. EDT, right before the Indiana Derby (gr. II).
Wine Princess, by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper out of 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, has won three of five races. She captured the Monmouth Oaks (gr. III) at the Indiana Oaks distance after setting the pace. Trained by Steve Margolis, she gets the return services of jockey Shaun Bridgmohan.
Two of Wine Princess' rivals, Grace Hall and Eden's Moon, are grade I winners. Eden's Moon, trained by Bob Baffert for Kaleem Shah, shipped in from California after running fifth in the Del Mar Oaks (gr. IT) on turf. She won this year's Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park in her third start and later took the San Clemente Handicap (gr. IIT) on grass. In two of her other efforts this year the daughter of Malibu Moon placed in the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I) and the Hollywood Oaks (gr. II).
Grace Hall, owned by Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables, and Stuart Grant, has been fed a steady diet of stakes after breaking her maiden at first asking last year. The daughter of Empire Maker won last year's Spinaway Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course right after her maiden win and then took the Blue Hen Stakes and ran second in the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I). This year, she has captured the Delaware Oaks (gr. II) and the Gulfstream Oaks (gr. II).
Uptown Bertie became a graded stakes winner the first time she contested an added-money race. The More Than Ready filly captured the Iowa Oaks (gr. III) June 30 two races back.
The Indiana Oaks' field also boast another stakes winner in Amie's Dini, who won the Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Amie's Dini, by Bandini, enters the Indiana Oaks off a fourth-placed effort in the Charles Town Oaks Sept. 22.
The remaining members of Indiana Oaks field include Charles Town Oaks runner-up Holiday Soiree (by Harlan's Holiday), Confession (by Broken Vow ), Grace for Grace (by English Channel ), and Chernomorochka (by Hold for Gold).
