She Be Smooth ‘Fit and Happy’ for Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2)

G2 Winner Favored Against Six Rivals in First Two-Turn Test
Among 10 Stakes, Five Graded, Worth $2.675 Million in Purses

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Calumet Farm’s Grade 2-winning homebred She Be Smooth has lived up to her name thus far in a fledgling career that has seen her go unbeaten in two starts. The next challenge awaits Saturday when she steps up again in company, this time as the likely favorite in the $275,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).

The 56th running of the 1 1/16-mile Oaks for 3-year-old fillies is part of a spectacular program featuring 10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.675 million in purses anchored by the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa for 3-year-olds, the country’s premier Triple Crown prep celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Post time for the first of 14 races is 11:30 a.m. ET

Following the one-mile Cash Run Jan. 1, seven-furlong Forward Gal (G3) Jan. 31 and one-mile Davona Dale (G2) Feb. 28, the Oaks completes Gulfstream’s winter series of stakes for sophomore fillies and offers a total of 200 qualifying points for the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis.

The Gulfstream Park Oaks is carded as Race 9 with a scheduled post time of 3:31 p.m. ET

Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher is the only one of six trainers in a field of seven with a previous Gulfstream Park Oaks victory, the latest courtesy of In Tune in 2014. Other wins have come with Dreaming of Julia (2013), R Heat Lightning (2011) and Devil May Care (2010).

She Be Smooth is currently tied for sixth with 50 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points, courtesy of her dominant six-length score at odds of nearly 6-1 in the Davona Dale. That effort followed a 2 ¼-length debut score Jan. 23, also going a mile at Gulfstream, after the daughter of Lexitonian went unraced at 2.

“To go from a first start maiden to a graded-stake and win impressively I thought it was a huge jump up for her,” Pletcher said. “We haven’t had to train her very much in between races. She’s fit and happy and she seems to like the Gulfstream track. She also acts like the stretchout won’t bother her, either.”

The Gulfstream Park Oaks will mark the first time around two turns for She Be Smooth, rated the 7-5 program favorite. In the Davona Dale she rallied from last, trailing by 9 ½ lengths after a quarter-mile, to win in 1:37.78 over a fast main track. Flavien Prat, up for that race, returns to ride from Post 6. All fillies will carry 122 pounds.

“Last time she got a little further back than we anticipated but we know she wants to settle and make one run so we try not to alter her style,” Pletcher said. “The way she handled the mile and the way she finished we’re confident that she’ll handle the extra distance.”

Second choice on the morning line at 9-5 is Gary and Mary West homebred Prom Queen, making her stakes debut off a popular eight-length romp at the course and distance Feb. 12 for trainer Brad Cox, who opted to skip the race with Forward Gal winner and Davona Dale third-place finisher On Time Girl.

Prom Queen, by 2009 Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby winner Quality Road, set the pace in her unveiling before finishing second behind She Be Smooth Jan. 23. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano gets the return call from Post 5 after breaking her maiden last time out.

“I loved her two-turn race. She obviously ran very well first time out [and] was beaten by a really good filly. We thought she had run well but also thought she was one that would be better around two turns,” Cox said. “It was a short field last time but I thought she gained a lot of experience in the race. Javier did a good job of educating her.

“I think she does need to take another step forward. She’s had plenty of time off that race [after] I did run her back quick,” he added. “As soon as she won and came out of the race in good shape, we circled the Gulfstream Oaks. We thought this would make a lot of sense as long as she was doing well. She’s really, really trained well. Her gallop outs have been very strong, and I expect her to move forward off that first run going two turns.”

Whisper Hill Farm’s Just Singing, a $300,000 daughter of 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify, looks to build on her 18 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points while making her Gulfstream debut. She ran third by a length in the Golden Rod (G2) to cap her 2-year-old season, then was third again in the Feb. 14 Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds in her lone start this year.

Both of Just Singing’s losses came to Bella Ballerina, who suffered her first career loss when second in the March 21 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) but ranks second on the Kentucky Oaks points list with 110. Luv Your Neighbor, second in the Rachel Alexandra, came back to run third in the Fair Grounds Oaks.

“Obviously you’re looking for points this time of year. When you’ve been beaten by two fillies last time out, maybe we need to think about avoiding them for the time being,” trainer Kent Sweezey said. “There’s some decent 3-year-olds out there and we’ve all just got to kind of find our spots.”

Already with three two-turn races under her belt, Just Singing will wear blinkers for the first time in the Gulfstream Park Oaks and will have Hall of Famer John Velazquez back in the irons after riding for the first time at Fair Grounds. They are rated at 9-2 on the morning line.

“Maybe if the blinkers could move her up a length or two, we’re there in both of those races. It’s a logical time to try something. I’m excited. She’s doing really, really good,” Sweezey said. “Not many horses can go two turns on the dirt, and we’re hoping that she can take a big step forward and ultimately make it to the Oaks.”

Averill Racing, Mathis Stables and Tristan De Meric’s My Miss Mo (Post 2, 5-1 ML) ran second in the Davona Dale, a half-length in front of On Time Girl, earning 25 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points. Trained by Championship Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr., she made her first two starts against Florida-breds last fall at Gulfstream, winning by 12 lengths second time out, before capping her juvenile campaign finishing fourth in the six-furlong Sandpiper at Tampa Bay Downs. This will be her first time around two turns.

The other filly in the field with Kentucky Oaks qualifying points is JSM Equine homebred Haute Diva (Post 7, 20-1 ML). She picked up five points by finishing fifth in the Davona Dale, her third race of the Championship Meet after running second by a neck in an optional claiming allowance on the turf Dec. 6 and winning the Jan. 1 Cash Run by the same margin on the dirt, both going one mile.

Trained by Patrick Biancone, Haute Diva has had one previous try around two turns when she ran sixth in last fall’s Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland one race after breaking her maiden on the turf at Gulfstream, where she has a win and three seconds in five tries over the main track. Hall of Famer Joel Rosario has the riding assignment.

“She’s a nice filly that took some time to come around. She’s never really run bad except maybe at Keeneland where she lost it in the paddock,” Biancone said. “She’s a very headstrong filly but she’s growing out of it. She’s starting to be more professional. She ran a very good race in early January and then we gave her time to grow and develop more.

“In the Davona Dale, she didn’t have the best trip that she could have had but it was surely a good race and we were very happy with that. We’ll see what happens,” he added. “She worked extremely well the other day. I’m very happy with the way she is now. Now, is she good enough? The answer will come Saturday.”

William Werner’s Betty’s Pearl (Post 1, 12-1) has never been worse than third in five starts, graduating her in most recent, a seven-furlong maiden special weight Feb. 6 at Gulfstream. Her farthest race was a one-mile maiden event Jan. 4 at Gulfstream where she ran second to Cox-trained Paradise, who came back to win the one-mile Busher Feb. 28 at Aqueduct. She will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who has teamed with trainer Brian Lynch for five stakes wins at the Championship Meet.

Rounding out the field is Shining Stables’ Nasti Z (Post 3, 30-1), the Joseph-trained stablemate of My Miss Mo that has had one prior start, a two-length maiden triumph sprinting 5 ½ furlongs Feb. 21 at Gulfstream while in for a $35,000 tag. The Florida-bred will be ridden back by Micah Husbands.

Past winners of the Gulfstream Park Oaks – run as the Bonnie Miss from its 1971 inception through 2010 – include Hall of Famers Inside Information (1998), Open Mind (1989) and Davona Dale (1979); champions Banshee Breeze (1998) and Christmas Past (1982); Kentucky Oaks winner Dispute (1993); Swiss Skydiver, who went on to take the 2020 Preakness (G1) against males; and subsequent Grade 1 winners Power Squeeze (2024), Birdonthewire (2015), Devil May Care (2010), Glitter Woman (1997), My Flag (1996), Charon (1990) and Miss Oceana (1984).