Just F Y I takes a stroll around the barn. (Coady Media/Churchill Downs)
A rainy Kentucky Oaks Day won’t bother the daughter of Justify who won two of his three Triple Crown race on sloppy tracks
Lemon Muffin gets last ‘butter up’ for the Coach
Longines Kentucky Oaks Update/Edited
George Krikorian’s reigning champion juvenile filly Just F Y I continues to train as impressively as any Oaks or Derby contender, putting in another gallop twice around Thursday where she was on the muscle.
The daughter of Justify certainly brings fresh legs to the table for the Oaks as she has had just one start this year, a runner-up finish in the Ashland Stakes (GI) at Keeneland.
“She’s moving great,” trainer Bill Mott said. “When she had that race in the Ashland, I think it was a little wake-up call. You lay those horses up five months and they get a little rusty, but I think she kind of realizes she’s back in the game.”
Rain is in the forecast for Oaks day, but an off track shouldn’t be an issue for Just F Y I. The bay filly won the Frizette Stakes (GI) at Saratoga last October over a sealed, sloppy surface.
Just F Y I had a Wednesday standard morning for trainer Bill Mott, visiting the paddock before putting in her gallop over the main track.
Just F Y I capped off her 3-for-3 2-year-old season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI). The daughter of Justify ran second to fellow Oaks contender Leslie’s Rose in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (GI) on April 5.
For the second straight day, Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes winner Lemon Muffin jogged once around and in the chute after coming onto the track with stablemate and Derby entrant, Just Steel.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has been jogging the filly in an effort to keep her energy contained after a swift final workout (:58.20 for five furlongs) on Saturday and strong gallop two days ago.
Trying to keep Lemon Muffin on the ground in recent days has been the challenge for Hall of Fame trainer Lukas. To that end, the steel-colored daughter of Collected jogged once around the track and in the chute Wednesday in an effort to try and harness some of her abundant energy.
“She galloped real strong again yesterday morning, she’s been doing a little too much in her mornings,” Lukas said. “That work the other day (five furlongs in :58.20) was all her. She came back the first day after that, we gave her a day off, and then the next day she was rolling around there again. But that’s her, that’s what we need to see.”
Jockey Keith Asmussen, who will be aboard Lemon Muffin in the Oaks, was on hand to watch his filly train Wednesday. As the young rider sat in Lukas’ office during the break, the Hall of Fame trainer let his pilot know “she’s a different horse than you rode last time.”
The last race Lukas was referring to was Lemon Muffin’s seventh place run in the Fantasy Stakes (GII) on March 30, an effort he says he is drawing a line through.
“She never spiked a temperature that day, but she wasn’t herself that day,” Lukas said. “She saddled quiet even. If she goes over there on Friday like she’s been this week, we’re in good shape.”
Lemon Muffin broke her maiden in the Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn after being a bride’s maid four times in a row after an eighth-place finish on debut.
The 150th Longines Kentucky Oaks Field
