Summerly Feels Her Oats in Oaks

Summerly, a 3-year-old filly who was beaten by more than 19 lengths in her last start, led virtually all the way Friday and scored a two-length win in the $554,400 Kentucky Oaks in front of a crowd of 111,243, the most ever for the day before the Kentucky Derby.

Summerly’s victory, at the expense of the 3-5 favorite, Sis City, who finished fourth, amounted to payback for Steve Asmussen, trainer of the winner. Last August at Saratoga, Asmussen lost Sis City to Joe Torre, the manager of the New York Yankees, and his three partners on a $50,000 claim, and Asmussen watched his former horse go on to four stakes wins.

In fact, Sis City was a 10-length winner of the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., last month, a badly beaten Summerly, ridden by Gary Stevens, finishing fourth.

Jerry Bailey rode Summerly on Friday, picking up his third Oaks win. When Bailey won his first Oaks, with Dispute in 1993, he also won the Derby the next day with Sea Hero. Bailey rides High Fly in today’s Derby.

“The only thing better than this would be to win the Derby,” said Asmussen, pointing out that Summerly was taken out of her front-running game when she was bumped leaving the gate in the Ashland.

Summerly, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:50 1/5 , paid $11.20 for $2. In The Gold, trained by Nick Zito, finished second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Gallant Secret, and it was three-quarters of a length back to Sis City, ridden by Edgar Prado.

The other finishers, in order, were Memorette, Runway Model and Rugula. Aspen Tree and Dance Away Capote were scratched.

“When a horse this good gets beat like Summerly did last time, you just draw a line through it and chalk it up to unexplainable,” Bailey said. “At the three-eighths pole, I was very confident. Edgar was asking his filly, and they couldn’t get by me.”

Bailey said that the plan was for Summerly to lay second, off Sis City, but three jumps out of the gate he decided to send his filly to the front.

“My filly broke a little flat,” Prado said. “I didn’t get a good feeling all the way during the race. It could be the track. She was right there, but I knew the other horse was more horse than mine.”

Summerly, a daughter of Summer Squall and Here I Go, a Mr. Prospector mare, was bought for $410,000 at a Keeneland yearling auction and now races for Ron Winchell.

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In other stakes at Churchill, Shadow Cast beat Island Sand by one length in the $300,000 Louisville Handicap as favored Star Parade ran fifth; Rey de Cafe nosed out Rush Bay in the $114,700 Crown Royal American Turf, with favored Chattahoochee War seventh; Pat Valenzuela rode the Jeff Mullins-trained Mighty Beau to a 2 3/4 -length win in the Aegon Turf Sprint; Limehouse beat Skipaslew by 1 3/4 lengths in the $112,900 Alysheba; and the $112,400 Edgewood went to Sweet Talker, with Brice Blanc aboard.

Mighty Beau was the horse who tested positive for an illegal drug, resulting in a small fine for Mullins at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, after a second-place finish in the Taylor’s Special Handicap in February.