'Anna Solidifies Oaks Bid With Bullet Drill

(from Churchill Downs notes)
Eclipse Award-winning filly Dreaming of Anna all but cemented her Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) credentials Saturday when she drilled a bullet five furlongs in :58 3/5, fastest of 47 workouts at the distance.

Trainer Wayne Catalano said that owner Frank Calabrese has veto power, but that his recommendation will be for the Oaks, instead of the grassy Edgewood Stakes.

Catalano used Saturday’s move as his barometer, saying just prior to walking her to the track, “It’s the Oaks or the grass race – that’s what we’re here to find out today. That’s been our plan all along.”

The trainer beamed following the workout, in which the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) winner was full of herself, galloping out six furlongs in 1:11 3/5 and giving rider Shaun Bridgmohan a handful to pull up.

“Wayne’s instructions were to let her run down the lane and then gallop out an extra eighth of a mile,” said Bridgmohan, the stable’s go-to rider in Chicago. “She galloped out very strong. She was more relaxed today than when I worked her at Keeneland last time.”

When asked if she was an Oaks filly, Bridgmohan smiled and said, “Absolutely.”

Catalano echoed those sentiments, saying, “The jock’s happy afterwards. That’s the main thing.

“I was curious about the track this morning,” Catalano said. “It was loose and deep – drying out – not like the wet, hard track that I galloped her over yesterday. Obviously, she loved it.”

Catalano has been galloping Dreaming of Anna himself every morning the past month and deferring to Bridgmohan for the works. Regular rider Rene Douglas will have the mount for her next start.

“We trained her in the same style as we did last year (before winning the Juvenile Fillies),” Catalano said. “We had her at Keeneland and then brought her here for her last breeze. I figured: ‘It worked before, why can’t it work again?’ ”

Dreaming of Anna will walk the shedrow Sunday and return for a light jog on Monday.