Well Monied heads a full field in the Del Mar Oaks.
American Oaks (gr. IT) runner-up Well Monied heads a full field of 3-year-old fillies for the $350,000 Del Mar Oaks (gr. IT) Aug. 22 on the turf at the seaside track.
The 1 1/8-mile event shapes up as a highly entertaining affair. Also entered are the first four finishers from Del Mar's exciting San Clemente Handicap (gr. IIT) on Aug. 1, as well as Lexlenos, who ran third at 63-1 in the American Oaks at Hollywood Park last month.
Trainer Paddy Gallagher, who won last year's Del Mar Oaks with 43-1 shot Magical Fantasy, won't be slipping in under the radar this time. The popular Irishman not only starts Lexlenos, but he also has Starlarks, who upset the one-mile San Clemente at 11-1 by a nose over Strawberry Tart. Both of Gallagher's closers figure to be considerably shorter odds this time.
Also coming out of the San Clemente are Hameildaeme, who ran third by a nose over Internallyflawless, who represents newly enshrined Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Favoritism, though, is likely to go to Well Monied, who was so impressive in winning the Honeymoon Handicap (gr. IIT) on the Hollywood Park lawn prior to her second-place finish to Gozzip Girl in the 1 1/4-mile American Oaks July 5. Trained by Howard Zucker for C.T. Grether, the gray/roan daughter of Maria's Mon gave a game effort when rallying from 13th in the big field, but could not overcome a five-wide trip into the stretch and was defeated by 3 1/4 lengths.
Prior to the American Oaks, the Kentucky-bred Well Monied had won three of five starts in 2009 while handling several of the top contenders in the Del Mar Oaks, including Lexlenos, Hameildaeme and Starlarks. Joel Rosario retains the mount and they will break from post 5.
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