Quietside taking the $750,000 Fantasy (G2). (Coady Media)
Scores ticket to Kentucky Oaks
Robert Yates/Oaklawn Park
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A two-horse race on paper played out that way as Quietside edged Simply Joking by three-quarters of a length to win the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
The Fantasy marked the record 40th career Oaklawn stakes victory for Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony, who bred and races Quietside under his Shortleaf Stable banner. The late John Franks, a four-time Eclipse Award winner as North America’s outstanding owner, won 39 stakes races at Oaklawn, the last coming in 2000.
Quietside, the 3-5 favorite, collected 100 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points for the victory, her third in seven lifetime starts. Trained by John Ortiz, the daughter of Malibu Moon has earned $957,200.
Simply Joking, who entered unbeaten in two career starts, grabbed the early lead from post 6 under Jaime Torres and set modest fractions of :23.89 for the opening quarter-mile, :48.09 for a half-mile and 1:12.10 for 6 furlongs. Quietside, on the outside, was glued to Simply Joking from the start and finally took the lead in the upper stretch. Quietside ($3.20) edged away late from a stubborn Simply Joking to complete 1 1/16 miles over a fast track in 1:44.31.
Simply Joking, the 3-1 second choice, finished 8 ¾ lengths ahead of Runnin N Gunnin, who was followed, in order, by Princess Em Too, Kinzie Queen, Princess Aliyah, California Sunset, Necessity and Baytown Butterfly.
Quietside was exiting a one-length victory in the $500,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 23 at Oaklawn. The Honeybee was Anthony’s record-tying 39th career Oaklawn stakes victory.
FANTASY QUOTES
Winning Trainer John Ortiz (Quietside): “We were very confident coming in here, but you’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. Whit’s (Whit Beckman, trainer of Simply Joking) has done a fantastic job with his filly. She hasn’t run in a while and to come down and battle us like that with a filly … good job Whit. Very proud of his team. I thought she showed some great fight today. That’s what’s horse racing is about. I feel like we’re having a horse peaking at the right time.”
Winning Jockey Jose Ortiz (Quietside): “She broke well, alert, that’s what I wanted. Simply Joking, I knew she was taking an easy lead, but I was right on top of her. I tried to make it a two-horse race and try to apply pressure at the right time. And I think I did just that. But she kept on going. Tough filly. Nice filly, there. They put on a show and I’m very happy we came out a winner. We came out on top, but that doesn’t take anything away from the other horse. She’s a nice filly. I got in front just past the three-sixteenths (pole), going to the eighth pole. I put a head in front, but the other filly kept fighting. (Simply Joking jockey) Jaime (Torres) floated me a little bit wide, but he did his job. It was all legal. I came back in. I pushed him back in when I put a half a length in front of her. It was a very beautiful race. Two nice fillies. They put up a show and I’m very happy that we came out on top.”
Second-Place Jockey Jaime Torres (Simply Joking): “Nobody wanted to go. My filly broke beautifully, so I just went down to the rail and let her slow down a little bit. At the end, I had a lot of horse. Quietside was just better today. The rail has not been good today, so I tried to get outside down the stretch. My filly is just green, and it was hard for me to keep her outside and fight with the other horse, but it’s OK.”
