Race Of The Week: Coaching Club American Oaks

Compact Field Of Fillies Pursuing Historic Win

By Derek Simon

OK, so here’s the deal: When I picked the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) to be the US Racing Race of the Week, I did so based solely on name recognition. I mean, this is an event that has been won by champions Ruffian, Davona Dale, Wayward Lass, Christmas Past (one of my favorite horse names ever), Mom’s Command, Open Mind, Ashado, Rachel Alexandra and Songbird. The roster of winners is like an all-star team of 3-year-old fillies.

However, when I finally saw the entries, the wind went out of my sails a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great race — Monomoy Girl alone is a draw, as my friend and colleague Scott Dick points out. But a five-horse field, with a prohibitive favorite, is not really the kind of race I salivate about from a betting standpoint.

With that said, I’m going to do my best to turns lemons into champagne lemonade.

Let’s take a look at the field, click here.