Iowa Oaks Preview: Ocean Breeze Wafts Up The Ladder

ALTOONA, IA – Fresh off of an ultra-impressive maiden-breaking effort, Gary and Mary West homebred Ocean Breeze makes her way up the ladder to face stakes rivals in Sunday’s $150,000 Iowa Oaks (G3) at Prairie Meadows.

The Iowa Oaks is a 1 1/16-mile dirt route for 3-year-old fillies that attracted a field of seven for this year’s edition. It is slated as the ninth event on an 11-race card and has a local post time of 8:35 PM Eastern.

Here is a look at the full field for the Iowa Oaks:

1. Lagoon Falls (15/1) – She began her career with back-to-back wins furlongs while running for a tag each time. She failed to make an impact against optional claiming rivals in her most recent appearance and as an Uncle Mo daughter, she should enjoy making her first start beyond 5 1/2 furlongs.

2. Queen Bridget (10/1) – She broke her maiden on the lawn last fall and has vacillated between dirt and turf throughout her career. She finished third in a pair of 1 1/16-mile optional claiming events this spring and will get the riding services of Sophie Doyle, who currently sits near the top of the meet’s jockey standings.

3. Flat Out Speed (6/1) – She certainly lives up to her name, winning 4 of her 5 career starts while running on the front end early. Though this will be her first two-turn attempt, her class may help her prevail: 3 of her 4 victories came against stakes company.

4. Strong Flag (5/2) – The morning line favorite broke her maiden at this distance over a muddy Oaklawn Park track in March, then twice fell at the hands of stakes winner Piece of My Heart. Trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr., have won 20% of their nearly 1,000 shared mounts since the beginning of 2019.

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5. Aurelia Garland (4/1) – After an eye-popping 5-length maiden debut victory, she went unraced for 379 days, returning on May 16 to finish third in back-to-back starts. She adds blinkers for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, who wins 21% when his runners put on the headgear. 

6. Ocean Breeze (4/1) – She broke her maiden by 8 1/4 lengths while going 6 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs to earn her first shot against stakes foes. The Curlin filly could be ready to run a repeat effort: in her final work for this test, she fired a 5-furlong bullet best-of-19 work in 1 minute flat.

7. Dynasty of Her Own (7/2) – She has won 4 of her 5 career starts for trainer Jonathan Wong, including 3 against stakes company. The versatile Shanghai Bobby filly earned those victories on both dirt and synthetic surfaces and in both sprints and routes, though her lone defeat was her only two-turn dirt attempt.