GIII Bayakoa Stakes

6th-OP, $110K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 4:25 p.m. ET. FEMINISM (Curlin) makes her first start for trainer Steve Asmussen. Initially a $200,000 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling buy, the filly posted a 10 flat breeze during OBS June, then sailed through the ring to become the sales topper when Gus King took her home for $975,000. The first-time starter is out Mufajaah (Tapit), who had a fair amount of success visiting the Larry Snyder Winner's Circle at Oaklawn where she won, among other races, the GIII Bayakoa Stakes. The dam of eight...

Big returns to the races was the hallmark of many of the five fleet fillies this week, but it wasn't the 2025 champ who took down the number one spot. 5. ME AND MOLLY McGEE, SA, 2/7-6th, 7 furlongs (Video) Beyer Speed Figure-93 (2nd). (f, 4, by Vekoma-Molly McGee, by Quality Road) O-Exline-Border Racing, Aaron Kennedy, Mike Burns, Susanna Wilson and Dan Hudock. B-Four Pillars Holdings (Ky). T-Peter Eurton. J-Hector Berrios. This was a best-case-scenario return after she was vanned off the Saratoga track following the GI Test Stakes last...

The betting public thought it would be a welcome parade, and Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) did not let them down, striding home much the best in the GIII Bayakoa Stakes to kick off her 2026 campaign at Oaklawn. The Mark Casse star needs little introduction, but her record bears repeating: the daughter of the now-pensioned Medaglia d'Oro breathes rarified air as one of few horses who can claim Grade I wins/placings on two surfaces. As part of her nine-race championship campaign last season, she came a nose shy of winning the...

This wasn't the plan. Jon Green, the general manager of D.J. Stable, and trainer Mark Casse were ready to give 3-year-old filly champion Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) a nice break after her second-place finish in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff. But just 67 days after her last race, she will go in Saturday's GIII Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn, where she is the 4-5 morning-line favorite. Why? Because Nitrogen was telling Casse that she had had enough of taking it easy. "The game plan, initially, was that when she was done...

Sunday's closing day card at Del Mar was punctuated by a trio of impressive graded stakes performances, however, none more so than the final graded race of the seaside oval's season, the GIII Bayakoa Stakes. Attempting to defend her title in the one-mile race after a narrow score in 2024, Hope Road (Quality Road) rebounded off a modest third-place effort as the even-money choice in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint to take Sunday's Bayakoa, winning by an emphatic 6 1/2-length margin. Hustled out of the gate by...

Edited Press Release Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse returned to Oaklawn Park last season, winning nine races--a single-season personal best in Hot Springs--led by GI Arkansas Derby hero Sandman (Tapit). Casse could make an even bigger impact during the coming split meets because several of his most prominent horses will ship for Oaklawn's 64-day season that begins Dec. 12. The trainer, who received 25 stalls, already has horses on the grounds. "They'll come in stages," Casse said from his Florida base on Thursday. "But we're going to bring our...

Breaking on top despite a slight bobble after the jump, Comparative (Street Sense) was headed only once in the GIII Bayakoa S., but put that rival away in the lane to hold off all comers in a gutsy performance to pick up her first graded win. On a two-race win-streak coming into this contest after another dueled performance in the Ladies S. Jan. 6, and a winner to cap her 2023 season against New York optional claiming company Nov. 25 at Aqueduct, she was given a 6-1 chance by the...