Longines Kentucky Oaks

(Grade 1)

BRENDAN Walsh took a short break from training last Friday morning – about 12 hours before sending Godolphin’s Pretty Mischievous out in the 149th Longines Kentucky Oaks – for a quick chat with a colleague who knows everything about winning the biggest races at Churchill and beyond.

“You’re drawn wide, aren’t you?” 87-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, customarily perched atop his pony for training hours.

“Yeah,” Walsh said, knowing full well Pretty Mischievous might be up against it from post 14 in the nine-furlong Oaks.

“I won four Derbies, three of them were drawing 15 and up,” Lukas said. “Just let them break out there, get her feet under here and let her take ‘em into the race.”

Tyler Gaffalione, fresh off a riding title at the Keeneland spring meeting and seeking his first Kentucky Oaks victory, wasn’t there for the conversation but one would never know listening to him describe Pretty Mischievous’ narrow neck victory over the late-running Gambling Girl.

“Down in the 14 hole, we were able to let her get out there, get underneath herself her,” Gaffalione said. “She’s a big, long-striding filly, so we didn’t want to get in her way. She likes [a] target, so we wanted to be just off of them.

Good rhythm

“Everything kind of went to plan heading down the backside. I was able to just kind of let her get into a good rhythm, and I had a lot of horse around the turn.

“Coming into the stretch, I knew they were going to be coming. So, I let her out a little bit and she responded great, and she finished the job really well.”

A homebred for Godolphin out of the Grade 1-winning Tapit mare Pretty City Dancer, Pretty Mischievous won the $1.25 million Oaks by a neck at 10/1 over the New York-bred filly Gambling Girl. The Alys Look finished another two and a half lengths back in third at 30/1, and just a neck in front of Godolphin’s Wet Paint, the 8/5 favourite for trainer Brad Cox, with another longshot, 29/1 Dorth Vader fifth.

Walsh grew up in Shanagarry in Co Cork before honing his horsemanship skills at the Irish National Stud and Kildangan Stud, the latter leading to a post as a rider and stable foreman for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s racing division in Dubai and later at Arlington Park.

He worked for Mark Wallace in England and later for Eddie Kenneally in the US before starting his own stable in 2011.

“I have had a very close association with them my whole life,” Walsh said of his Godolphin connection. “I did nine winters in Dubai. I worked for them in Al Quoz as a rider. You know, when you’re there and you’re doing that, it was like working for an all star team and getting on all stars.

Great opportunity

“And now to actually have the opportunity to train the all stars is … the stuff you dream of when you’re a kid. If you want to be a footballer or a coach or whatever is to be around the very best. And it’s just a great opportunity for me to be able to work with horses of this calibre.”

Pretty Mischievous improved to 5-for-7 with the Oaks victory, with the only blemishes on her resume a third in last fall’s Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill and the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks after a troubled start in late March at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.

“Just delighted that the whole thing came together,” Walsh said. “We’ve planned this for a very, very long time. We hit a couple of bumps on the road but nothing major. And we were able to make a few adjustments. …And Tyler, he did a super job, not just today, but he came in and he’s worked this filly from the very get go. [He] came in and worked her three times before she ran today, so that we would get it right.”

The parade of six Grade 1 stakes over the weekend started on Friday as Played Hard fended off last year’s Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath and Grade 1 winner Search Results in the $750,000 La Troienne Stakes.

The five-year-old daughter of Into Mischief and jockey John Velazquez also provided trainer Phil Bauer and owner Rigney Racing with their first Grade 1 victories.

Played Hard hadn’t been out since winning the Grade 3 Falls City last November at Churchill and she improved to 4-for-9 in Louisville with the win.

The Oaks Day card also featured a fourth straight victory for last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel in the $300,000 Unbridled Sidney Stakes.