Pippin Rematch in Bayakoa

This year’s 1 1/6-mile GIII Bayakoa S. at Oaklawn appears to be a rematch of the track-and-trip Pippin S. with seven of that race’s nine contenders, including the top four finishers, returning here. A traditional prep for the GI Apple Blossom S. Apr. 10, this is the first time the Bayakoa is being run as a graded stake since its inception in 1992. Shadwell Stable’s “TDN Rising Star” Mufajaah (Tapit) gets the morning-line nod off a good looking three-length victory in the Pippin Jan. 17. Prior to that score, the chestnut closed out last season with an optional claimer victory at Churchill Downs Oct. 31 and a sixth in that venue’s GII Fall City H. Nov. 27. The Dan Peitz pupil opened her account with a pair of victories here last winter, and her only loss over this strip came after being pinched at the start and enduring a wide trip in last year’s GIII Fantasy S. “She seems happy,” Peitz. “Hopefully, she runs back to the Pippin, and that race will be good enough.”

Bret Calhoun sends out Pippin runner-up Haunted Heroine (Ghostzapper), who faces graded stakes company for the first time here. The Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch colorbearer ended her sophomore campaign with a pair of allowance victories at Keeneland Oct. 15 and at Churchill a month later. Also exiting the Pippin is Pearl Turn (Bernardini) (third), Call Pat (Lawyer Ron) (fourth), Courageous Julie (Pioneerof the Nile) (sixth), Diva’s Diamond (Crafty Shaw) (seventh) and Lady Haddassah (Whywhywhy) (eighth). 

Mufajaah’s biggest competition, however, is likely to come in the form of an opponent she has not faced before, who is also a “TDN Rising Star”. Pin Oak homebred Gold Medal Dancer (Medaglia d’Oro) followed a May 9 Churchill optional claimer victory with her first black-type success in Canterbury’s off-the-turf Minnesota H.B.P.A. Distaff S. June 7. The Donnie Von Hemmel trainee was a close second in a sloppy renewal of the rained off Lady Canterbury S. next out July 12 and has not been seen since fading to seventh in the Ricks Memorial S. going a mile on the turf at Remington Aug. 29. Two-for-two over this course, the bay has been working well in preparation for this return and this barn has been successful with horses coming off of an extended layoff in the past. 

Another contender reopposing the chalk here is Preston Stables’ Flashy American (Flashy Bull), who finished fourth in the Falls City. After completing the exacta in the GI Delaware H. last July, the Ken McPeek trainee finished fifth in Saratoga’s GIII Shuvee H. just two weeks later and was fourth in Indiana’s Mari Hulman George S. Oct. 4 prior to the Falls City. The gray was last seen finishing ninth as the heavy favorite after a wide trip in a muddy renewal of Remington’s one-mile and 70-yard She’s All In H. Dec. 14. Flashy American may not have displayed her full potential in her last few starts, but she has faced much tougher company than this in the past and boasts a strong local five-panel drill in 1:02 Feb. 6.