Longines Kentucky Oaks (Grade 1)

JOSE Ortiz had a day of days on Friday evening at Churchill Downs, and that was before things went to an even higher level in the Kentucky Derby the following day.

On Friday, he had five wins, highlighted by the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks for Chad Brown on the filly Always A Runner.

The Gun Runner filly launched a five-wide challenge in the straight to pass a pair of Southern California runners in Bob Baffert’s early leader Explora and a game Santa Anita Oaks winner Meaning, to post a length-and-a-quarter victory in the nine-furlong test. Counting Stars got the better of Explora for third.

Serious health issues had cost Always A Runner her two-year-old season and she came to the Kentucky Oaks win off just a pair of starts: a maiden win in February at Tampa Bay Downs and a victory in the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes in April at Aqueduct.

The victory proved emotional for her owners Douglas Scharbauer and Three Chimneys Farm, which is also the breeder. She had gone through the ring at Keeneland September for $1,050,000. For Scharbauer, the victory provided another pinnacle in his family’s racing history. His mother, Dorothy Scharbauer, and her daughter, Pamela Scharbauer, campaigned Alysheba to victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

“I don’t have any doubt that both of them were certainly watching this from above. After she hit the finish line, I’m sure both of my parents were smiling. They loved horse racing,” Scharbauer said.

Always A Runner raced eighth early in the field of 13. She raced comfortably as Explora led to six furlongs in 1m10.78secs. Always A Runner then launched her rally on the far turn.

“She felt really good throughout,” said Ortiz, who added: “It was a great day of racing for me. I got five wins and capped it off with the Oaks. It’s just amazing. It was a good vibe.”

Chad Brown said: “Jose executed it perfectly, and this incredibly talented filly cooperated. She was there for him at every pole.”

Gun Runner sired the 1-2 in the Kentucky Oaks, with Always A Runner besting his other daughter, Meaning.

Trainer Michael McCarthy said of his second-placed Meaning: “We were there every step of the way, shook loose at the top of the lane, and held for second. Kudos to Chad. These things happen. We’re used to it,” added McCarthy, who sent out Journalism to a runner-up finish in last year’s Kentucky Derby.

Brown indicated his winning filly will head to Saratoga for a summer campaign targeting the major Grade 1 races for three-year-old fillies throughout the spring and summer.

Churchill Downs moved the Oaks to late into twilight on the card. Wagering from all sources on the Kentucky Oaks race-day card set a record of $89 million, up 18% from the prior record set in 2024. Attendance was up 2.4% from 100,910 a year ago. It was well below the event’s record of 124,589, established in 2016.

Rest of the card

Also on the card, the other Grade 1, the Fasig-Tipton La Troienne Stakes over a mile and half a furlong, went to the Into Mischief filly Shred The Gnar for Brian Lynch and Luis Saez. Bred in Kentucky by Camas Park Stud and Lynch Bages, she had a length to spare over Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed.

The Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes brought a win for Jose Ortiz on a son of Curlin, to be the Derby winner’s sire, with Steve Asmussen’s Corporate Power proving too strong by a neck for Skippylongstocking and last season’s Grade 1-winning colt Baeza, half a length back in third.

The seven-furlong Grade 2 Eight Belles for three-year-old fillies went to Irad Ortiz, getting in on the act for Brad Cox with On Time Girl, while Brendan Walsh trained Imaginationthelady to win the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes for three-year-old fillies.

Gezora, winner of the Filly and Mare Turf at the Breeders’ Cup last season for Francis Graffard, has moved to Chad Brown for owner Peter Brandt, but she met with defeat in the Grade 3 Modesty Stakes when Chad Brown’s American Pharoah five-year-old Kathynmarissa proved a length and a quarter too good. Brown said with a rematch on June 5th in the Grade 1 New York Stakes at Saratoga is on the cards.