Goodbye Halo Cruises to Easy Victory in Oaks : Conqueror of Winning Colors Beats Whittingham Entrymate by 3 3/4 Lengths

Goodbye Halo, the only horse who has beaten Winning Colors, the filly who will be trying to win today’s Kentucky Derby, took off in the stretch Friday and scored a 3 3/4-length victory in the $241,100 Kentucky Oaks before a crowd of 64,735 at Churchill Downs.

Before the race, Charlie Whittingham, the trainer of Goodbye Halo, had said that he was glad his 3-year-old filly didn’t have to compete against Winning Colors in the Oaks. After losing to Goodbye Halo in the Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Feb. 20, Winning Colors turned the tables on Whittingham’s horse when they ran in the Santa Anita Oaks March 13.

Jeanne Jones, also trained by Whittingham, had taken the lead on the turn in Friday’s 1 1/8-mile race, but her stablemate, ridden by Pat Day, passed her just inside the eighth pole and drew away.

Jeanne Jones, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, had fought off a challenge by Willa on the Move at the top of the stretch before Goodbye Halo passed them both.

Goodbye Halo, timed in 1:50 2/5, earned $156,715 for his owners, Kentuckians Arthur B. Hancock III and Alex Campbell Jr. The Whittingham entry paid $3.80, $3.80 and $2.60. Willa on the Move, who finished 1 lengths behind Jeanne Jones, paid $2.60 to show.

Colonial Waters ran fourth, followed by Lucky Lydia, Most Likely, Joe’s Tammie, On to Royalty and Fulbright Scholar, who was eased to the finish line by jockey Laffit Pincay after being hopelessly beaten.

Day, who was riding Goodbye Halo for the first time, after Jorge Velasquez had ridden her to three victories in the last four starts, dropped the daughter of Halo back early, which represented a new running style for the filly.

“I thought that she’d be closer to the pace than she was,” Day said. “She was aggressive when I worked her the other day, but she was unaggressive in the race. A couple of jumps out of the gate, I knew we weren’t going anywhere, so I let her drop back.”

In other stakes races at Churchill Downs Friday, By Land by Sea won the $154,150 Louisville Budweiser Breeders’ Cup by 4 1/2 lengths over Bound, and Yankee Affair was a 2 1/2-length winner over Yucca in the $186,500 Early Times Turf Classic.

Both winners had been favored, By Land by Sea paying $2.80, under Fernando Toro, and Yankee Affair returning $5.20, with Day in the saddle.

By Land by Sea ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 1/5, winning her 9th race in 12 starts. Yankee Affair ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.