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Raise A Glass! Bottle Of Rouge Toasts To Virginia Oaks Success

| 4:51 pm

NEW KENT, VA–Bob Baffert has an embarrassment of riches on his hands when it comes to classy 3-year-old fillies.

Grade I winner Bottle of Rouge (Vino Rosso) joined stablemates Explora (Blame) and Forced Entry (Charlatan) in the top five slots of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard Saturday with her dominant win in the second running of the Virginia Oaks.

Making her second start of the year, Bottle of Rouge crossed the country to Colonial Downs off a 1 1/2-length score in the Sunland Park Oaks Feb. 15. She spent the entirety of her juvenile campaign in California, jumping right from a maiden special weight to Grade I company in the Del Mar Debutante, a race in which she defeated her aforementioned stablemate, Explora.

Forwardly placed in the early stages of the Oaks Saturday, the 4-5 favorite was content to sit just off pacesetter Dazzling Dame (Girvin) who was happy to pace the field through fractions of :22.61 and :45.64. Enjoying a dream trip as the rail opened around the far turn, Bottle of Rouge had the class to burst through, easily surging past the early leader to clear off by 4 1/4 lengths. Dazzling Dame was a clear second ahead of Baffle (Violence) who closed from last of the five-horse field to fill out the trifecta.

“She’s been a lot of fun to travel with” said longtime Baffert assistant Jimmy Barnes. “She ran well at Sunland and came here and won. I wasn’t sure how the race would set up because there was a lot of speed, but we were able to settle her. She rated well, and Flavien (jockey Prat) was patient and found a hole to get through. She did the rest. One of the question marks was how she would handle the progression–stretching out in distance and facing classier fillies–but she handled it well. We have two really nice fillies with her and Explora, and we’re looking forward to getting to Churchill.”

While the shortened Oaks field netted her only 37.5 points, Bottle of Rouge still sits third behind Explora (95 points) and Bella Ballerina (60 points).

“I thought it was a good run,” added Flavien Prat, who enjoyed a five-win day on the card Saturday. “She’s improving race after race and continues to show she can handle more distance.”

Pedigree Note:
One of eight stakes winners for Vino Rosso, Bottle of Rouge is out of the Bluegrass Cat mare Blues Corner who has two winners from three to race. The mare is a half-sister to GSW San Pablo (Jump Start)a nd MGSP Slider (Prenup). Big Sky Racing picked up Bottle of Rouge for $100,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September in 2024. Her 2-year-old full-sister was a $150,000 yearling at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale last season and she has a yearling Yaupon half-sister still in the pipeline. Blues Corner returned to Yaupon for 2026.

 

VIRGINIA OAKS PRESENTED BY NEW KENT COUNTY, $250,000, Colonial Downs, 3-14, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:41.41, ft.
1–BOTTLE OF ROUGE, 122, f, 3, by Vino Rosso
              1st Dam: Blues Corner, by Bluegrass Cat
              2nd Dam: Hunt’s Corner, by Silver Ghost
              3rd Dam: Treacherous Twist, by Torsion
($60,000 Wlg ’23 KEENOV; $100,000 Ylg ’24 KEESEP). O-Natalie J. Baffert; B-Kathie Maybee (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien Prat. $150,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 6-4-1-0, $577,000.
2–Dazzling Dame, 122, f, 3, Girvin–Awesome Dama, by Corinthian. ($50,000 RNA Wlg ’23 KEENOV; $65,000 Ylg ’24 OBSWIN; $45,000 2yo ’25 OBSMAR). O-Respect the Valleys, LLC, Medallion Racing and Madaket Stables, LLC; B-Maria M. Haire (MD); T-Brittany T. Russell. $50,000.
3–Baffle, 122, f, 3, Violence–Please Flatter Me, by Munnings. ($130,000 Ylg ’24 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Repole Stable; B-Woods Edge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $27,500.
Margins: 4 1/4, 4, 2 3/4. Odds: 0.80, 1.40, 26.70.
Also Ran: Hit Parade, Kadabra. Scratched: Somemunny to Love.
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