(Edited press release)
Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor’s Rags to Riches, the impressive winner of Santa Anita’s Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I) and favorite for the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I), has been installed as the morning line choice for Pool 2 of Churchill Downs’ 2007 Kentucky Oaks Future Wager, which opens its four-day run March 8.
Churchill Downs handicapper Mike Battaglia installed trainer Todd Pletcher’s $1.9-million yearling sales purchase as the tepid 4-1 favorite in KOFW Pool 2. The mutuel field, a wagering interest that includes all 3-year-old fillies other than the 23 individual horses on the Pool 2 roster, is the close second choice at 5-1.
The KOFW, which is now in its fifth year, allows racing fans to wager on contenders for the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) at odds that could be significantly better than those they would receive on the day of the race. The wager is a $2 minimum bet and a win wager only. There are no refunds in the KOFW and winning payouts on the day of the race will be based on the odds that are in place at the conclusion of each respective KOFW pool.
Betting on the second of three pools for the 2007 KOFW is scheduled to open at noon (all times Eastern) March 8. Wagering on the pool will conclude March 11 at 6:30 p.m., which follows the conclusion of betting in the accompanying Kentucky Derby Future Wager by 30 minutes.
Rags to Riches, a daughter of A.P. Indyand a winner of two of her three career starts, narrowly missed being the betting choice in KOFW Pool 1 after she scored her Las Virgenes victory during the Feb. 8-11 pool. Rags to Riches had been listed as a 20-1 risk at the start of that pool, but her odds plummeted to 7-2 at its conclusion. The mutuel field closed as the 3-1 betting choice in KOFW Pool 1.
Pletcher trains four of the fillies on the roster of 23 individual horses in KOFW Pool 2. Along with Rags to Riches, Pletcher’s Oaks contenders include Octave (10-1), the runner-up to eventual 2-year-old filly champion Dreaming of Anna in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) who makes her 2007 debut in the $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II); Dogwood Stable’s Cotton Blossom, third in the Juvenile Fillies; and Edward P. Evans’ Perfect Forest, a daughter of Forestry who is unbeaten in two races this year at Gulfstream Park.
Baroness Thatcher, runner-up to Rags to Riches in the Las Virgenes, is listed with Pletcher’s Octave and Cotton Blossom as the 10-1 co-third choices in Pool 2. A trio at 15-1 includes Frank Calabrese’s homebred Dreaming of Anna, who has failed to win in a pair of 2007 races following an unbeaten four-race campaign at two; Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Appealing Zophie, winner of the Silverbulletday Stakes (gr. III) at the Fair Grounds and Saratoga’s Spinaway Stakes (gr. I); and West Point Thoroughbreds and Lewis G. Lakin’s Dream Rush, who upset Dreaming of Anna in Gulfstream Park’s Old Hat Stakes (gr. III).
The 24 betting interests in KOFW Pool 2 include nine fillies that were not among the horses listed in February’s opening pool. The 133rd running of the $500,000-added Kentucky Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, is set for Friday, May 4, at Churchill Downs.
The third and final pool of the 2007 Kentucky Oaks Future wager is set for April 12-15. Information on the Kentucky Oaks and real time odds on the KOFW can be found at www.kentuckyoaks.com.
2007 KOFW Pool 2:
#, Wagering Interest, ML odds
1, Appealing Zophie, 15-1
2, Autobahn Girl*, 20-1
3, Baroness Thatcher, 10-1
4, Boca Grande, 15-1
5, Cash Included, 50-1
6, Christmas Kid*, 50-1
7, Cotton Blossom, 10-1
8, Devil House, 30-1
9, Dream Rush*, 15-1
10, Dreaming of Anna, 15-1
11, Five Star Daydream, 30-1
12, Folk*, 15-1
13, Get Ready Bertie, 30-1
14, High Again*, 50-1
15, High Heels*, 50-1
16, Mistical Plan, 15-1
17, Octave, 10-1
18, Perfect Forest*, 20-1
19, Rags to Riches, 4-1
20, Runway Rosie, 20-1
21, Sutra, 50-1
22, Total*, 30-1
23, Tough Tiz's Sis*, 50-1
24, All other 3-year-old fillies, 5-1
* New wagering interest in Pool 2