1 of 2 | Pretty Mischievous ridden by Tyler Gaffalione (R) wins the Kentucky Oaks race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday, May 5, 2023. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is on Saturday, May 6th. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
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May 5 (UPI) -- Pretty Mischievous rallied outside rivals into the stretch to get the lead in Friday's $1.25 million Grade I Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and held off a late run by Gambling Girl for the upset victory.
None of the favorites figured in the outcome of the 1 1/8-mile race, America's premier event for 3-year-old fillies as Pretty Mischievous went to the post at odds of 10-1, second-place Gambling Girl was dismissed at 13-1 and The Alys Look, who finished third, was 30-1
The favorite, Wet Paint, finished fourth.
It was the first Kentucky Oaks win for trainer Brendan Walsh, jockey Tyler Gaffalione and the filly's owner, Godolphin, founded by Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. Godolphin also owns Wet Paint.
"It's a great honor for our founder, Sheik Mohammed, to win his first Oaks in Kentucky," said Godolphin's American bloodstock adviser, Michael Banahan.
Pretty Mischievous, a Godolphin homebred by Into Mischief, started from the outside, No. 14 gate in the Oaks and Gaffalione had to keep her wide on the track as he took up a stalking position. She turned for home as the outside runner in a line of four, but once on the lead, wasn't to be denied.
"Tyler had to use all the skills he has to get her into a great position," Banahan said.
Gaffalione and Walsh both said they had kept faith with Pretty Mischievous, even after she finished a fading second in the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks in her previous start. Before that, she had won four of five races.
"She's a tremendous filly. She showed it today," Gaffalione said.
"We always thought she was a very, very good filly from Day One," Walsh added.
Godolphin also has sought a Kentucky Derby win for many years but does not have a runner in Saturday's 149th running of that Classic.
On the Oaks undercard, the winners of last year's Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks both went down to defeat.
Rich Strike, the 80-1 upset winner in the 2022 Run for the Roses, never fired in the $600,000 Grade II Alysheba and finished fifth, beating only one rival.
The reigning Oaks winner, Secret Oath, gave a better account of herself, battling to the wire with Played Hard in the $750,000 Grade I La Troienee, but missed by a head.
