Condo could swoop on Gazelle while Oaklawn offers up a Fantasy

There are four major Kentucky Oaks (G1) preps scheduled for Saturday spanning the entire country. Two are Grade 1s, which will be discussed in Friday’s blog, while the other two will be the subject of this blog. Each race offers points on a 100-40-20-10 basis toward a starting berth in the May 1 Oaks.

The $300,000 Gazelle S. (G2) begins the quartet of preps and is one of only four races on the entire prep schedule offered either at the Oaks distance of nine furlongs or farther. The other three are the Demoiselle S. (G2), U.A.E. Oaks and Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).

Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful) captured the Demoiselle last November, dominating her six rivals by 11 1/2 lengths, and could duplicate that effort in the Gazelle on Saturday. The Rudy Rodriguez pupil found no trouble wiring her three-year-old bow, the Busher S., by 4 3/4 lengths on February 21 at Aqueduct, and only faces six again here.

The dark bay miss earned the highest BRIS Speed rating (102) of this field in the Demoiselle, and there is only one other filly in the group to earn a triple-digit BRIS Speed figure.

That one is Wonder Gal (Tiz Wonderful), who was awarded a 100 for finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) in her most recent effort. Trained by Leah Gyarmati, the dark bay lass actually debuted a winner against stakes rivals last July at Belmont Park and placed in both the Frizette S. (G1) and Adirondack S. (G2) prior to the Breeders’ Cup.