Favored Lady of Fifty earned her third straight stakes victory at Golden Gate Fields when she once again led all the way to capture the $100,260 California Oaks Jan. 21 (VIDEO).
The Hall of Fame team of jockey Russell Baze and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer combined to win the 56th renewal of the California Oaks for 3-year-old fillies by 3 1/4 lengths over Hollendorfer stablemate Sweet Nothings. Hollendorfer co-owns Lady of Fifty, a daughter of After Market, along with longtime partner George Todaro.
“Everybody with a good 3-year-old is thinking about bigger races later on, and I‘m thinking about them, too,” said Hollendorfer. “There is nothing left for her here, so she’ll have to go someplace else, but she has plenty of options. Sweet Nothings is also a nice horse.”
Lady of Fifty was in command from the start, leading Distant Image by as many as two lengths while clicking off soft quarter-mile fractions of :24.37, :49.81, and 1:14.87. The gray/roan filly had plenty left for the drive as Sweet Nothings, ridden by Aaron Gryder, tried to make a race of it through the lane but made little impact. The final time for the 1 1/16-mile distance was 1:46.04 on Golden Gate's Tapeta main track.
“She’s a nice filly,” said Baze. “She’s got such a long, big, beautiful stride. She’s still learning. She hasn’t run her best race yet.”
The same two Hollendorfer-trained fillies ran one-two in the one-mile Corte Madera Stakes Dec. 3 in similar fashion at Golden Gate, although the finish was much tighter. Lady of Fifty prevailed by a half-length in her two-turn debut that day.
Prior to that, Lady of Fifty was a front-running winner by a nose in the Golden Gate Debutante at six furlongs Nov. 5. Bred in Kentucky by Cloverleaf Farms II, Lady of Fifty was purchased for $40,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2010. She has now won four of five starts with one third and has earned $154,170.
Lady of Fifty is out of the Maria's Mon mare K. D.'s Shady Lady.
Sent off as the 13-10 pick in a six-horse field, Lady of Fifty carried top weight of 122 pounds and paid $4.60, $3, and $2.40. Sweet Nothings, also owned in partnership by Hollendorfer with Halo Farms, returned $3.20 and $2.80. They combined for a $11.20 exacta. Run the Blues Away finished 1 1/2 lengths farther back in third with David Lopez aboard. She paid $3.20 to show.
La Chispa, Distant Image, and Your Special Day completed the order. A third Hollendorfer-conditioned entrant, Milania, was scratched by the trainer.