Martha Washington Stakes Picks

#1 Quietside (8/5) – A short, but competitive field in the Martha Washington with Kentucky Oaks (G1) points on the line. Quietside has had the bad fortune of running into some monsters in her previous starts. She chased Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner and likely Two-Year-Old Female Champion Immersive in both Spinaway (G1) and Alcibiades (G1) and then had to face yet another Brad Cox trainee, Good Cheer, in the Golden Rod (G2). Those two runners are a combined perfect 8-8. Suddenly, the daughter of Malibu Moon gets to face a field without any Brad Cox freaks, and this might be her time to shine. She has good early speed, but not elite and is more content to track the pace. With a short field and the inside post draw, expect jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. to be aggressive out of the gate and get her sitting a pocket trip behind the early speed while saving ground on the rail. She has never missed the board in her career despite only having one victory, but trainer John Ortiz has always been very high on her and she has shown the ability to handle two turns. It will be important for her to move forward as some other runners are likely to progress from their previous starts, but she’s been working well at Oaklawn Park and Saturday could be a coming out party for a filly who has been the bridesmaid quite a few times.

#5 Gowell’s Delight (8/1) – Meanwhile, Gowell’s Delight is a bit of a value play that I think could run well in this field. She has good early speed but does not need the lead and draws well to the outside so jockey Colby Hernandez can judge the early pace scenario and slot her over to the two path for a ground-saving trip. My biggest concern is Kenny McPeek’s numbers switching horses off Lasix. Over the last five years, he is 1-38 (3%) when switching three-year-olds off Lasix in dirt races. His horses manage to hit the board 34% of the time under those conditions, so they do some running, but not a lot of winning. Still, the daughter of Practical Joke earned a 75 Beyer Speed Figure in debut and could move forward. While some are hesitant to back Practical Joke’s going two turns, I think 8.5 furlongs is a gettable distance and the dam has produced 22% winners in dirt route races.

#4 Her Laugh (2/1) – Last weekend we saw trainer Whit Beckman’s filly Simply Joking win the Kentucky Oaks prep Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds and he is back with another contender in Her Laugh. Another daughter of Practical Joke, she is a perfect 2-2 after rating in debut and taking the Untapable Stakes in gate-to-wire fashion. It was good to see her show that type of versatility as there are a few other horses that have good early speed in this race. She regressed a little in terms of her Beyer Speed Figures from her debut (78 to 74) and will need to move forward to contend on Saturday. My bigger concern is her caliber of competition as the runner-up in the Untapable, Golden Gamble, ran an uninspired fifth in the Silverbulletday while third-place finisher, California Sunset, dropped down in class to allowance company and still couldn’t win. She has been training well down at Fair Grounds but will need to handle Oaklawn’s track for the first time on Saturday, though she handled Churchill Down’s surface without issue in her debut race, so she is far from a “one track pony.”

#3 Take Charge Milady (3/1) – The more favored Kenny McPeek entry is coming off a maiden breaking victory last time out over a wet track at Oaklawn Park. She passed the two-turn test but will now stretch out over a fast track. She has gotten faster in her Beyer Speed Figures in each of her three starts but was facing restricted maiden claiming company two races ago, albeit for a $100,000 tag. Plus, her victory last time came once she got Lasix added. Now we are switching back off Lasix, which as stated earlier, has been an issue for McPeek runners on the Derby/Oaks trail these last several years. She debuted in July and then wasn’t seen again until December. Perhaps she simply needed time to mature and now can continue to move forward in this spot. However, at a short price, she will be a play against for me as she is facing winners for the first time and switching off Lasix. Jockey Julien Leparoux was able to get her to track the pace last time, but her first two starts saw her coming from well back. On Saturday, she might not be able to get so close to the lead as there are other legitimate speed horses in the race that will force her further back and thus making her pass several runners coming for home.