Cathryn Sophia erases doubts about stamina with Kentucky Oaks win

Songbird didn’t race in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks but she still affected the outcome.

The connections of Cathryn Sophia wouldn’t have run her in the race if Songbird had entered.

There were concerns that the filly didn’t have the distance in her for the 1 1/8-mile race. But Cathryn Sophia erased all doubts on Friday with her dominating 2 3/4–length victory in the filly equivalent of the Kentucky Derby.

“I don’t want to make it sound like we ran from Songbird,” trainer John Servis said. “Because if she would have won the Ashland [Cathryn Sophia finished third] we would have certainly run in the Oaks with or without Songbird.

“And I always had a little bit [of concern] about how far she would go, just because she’s not your typical two-turn horse.”

Terra Promessa led the field of 14 until a four-wide group hit the top of the stretch. That’s when Cathryn Sophia kicked it in to win uncontested.

Second place belonged to Land Over Sea, a filly belonging to the Team Nyquist group of trainer Doug O’Neill, jockey Mario Gutierrez and owner Paul Reddam.

Land Over Sea broke slowly and had to navigate her way to just off the lead group entering the stretch. But it would have taken an unbelievable performance at that point to catch the winner.

“She ran a great race for us,” O’Neill said. “Mario said she got away a bit slow and he was farther back than he wanted to be. He saved all the ground he could and kept plugging. At one point, I thought she was going to be fifth or sixth, but she kept trying.”

O’Neill said he will skip the filly race at Pimlico in two weeks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, and instead point to the Acorn Stakes in New York on June 11 on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes.

Cathryn Sophia, a Maryland bred, is also considering skipping the Baltimore race where Songbird is expected to make her return. The undefeated Songbird came down with a fever after the Santa Anita Oaks, her seventh win, and was pulled out of the Kentucky Oaks. She resumed training this week.

Servis, who also won the Kentucky Derby in 2004 with Smarty Jones, said the filly has a mean streak in her.

On Thursday, when they were returning Cathryn Sophia to the barn after a workout she got agitated in her stall.

“The groom pulled the bridle off … and she wheeled around and bit him right in the stomach and then threw him out of the stall,” Servis said.

“I don’t want to make it sound like she’s mental or crazy. She is just mean. She’s not like that out of her stall. But when you are in her stall, that’s her stall.”

And Friday was her race.

Follow John Cherwa on Twitter: @jcherwa