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Finite Looks To Extend Winning Streak In Fair Grounds Oaks

Author: Clint Goodman
Published: Thursday March 19, 2020
Finite will look to keep her five-race winning streak going on March 21. She will face off against five rivals in the Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G1) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. 

The Munnings filly broke her maiden at Kentucky Downs in September and finished out her juvenile season with victories in the Rags to Riches and Golden Rod (G2) stakes at Churchill Downs. She also scored the Silverbulletday Stakes and Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) in New Orleans this year.

Top Contender for Longines Kentucky Oaks 

Finite is owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Thomas Reiman, William Dickson, and Debbie Easter and trained by Steve Asmussen. She is at the top of the list of contenders for the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), commanding the leaderboard with 70 points. 

The Kentucky Oaks trail is still uncertain at this point. Churchill Downs announced on March 17 that the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) was postponed until Sept. 5. The Kentucky Oaks is also postponed until Sept. 4 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

David Fiske is the manager of Winchell Thoroughbreds. 

"I just look at it as it's the reason they invented the asterisk," Fiske said. "I don't know why we would be any different than the NCAA Tournament or The Masters tournament, or NASCAR, or Major League Baseball, or anything else. 

"Everybody's inconvenienced. I don't care when they run them; I just want to win them. I think the record books for us and any other sport are going to be filled with asterisks after this year."

Fiske is confident about Finite going into the Fair Grounds Oaks after the horse's performance in the Silverbulletday. Fiske viewed it as Finite's worst performance in a race, but the filly beat two other rivals to score a neck victory.

"She just didn't seem to be herself in the paddock that day or in the post parade. She's usually pretty calm, laid-back, takes everything in stride. That day, she was very agitated, anxious, on her toes, amped up," Fiske said. 

"She was trying to pull Ricardo (Santana Jr.) down the backside — that and the fact that she was three-wide on the first turn and three or four wide on the second turn and still managed to grind out the win. If that was her worst race, then we're in pretty good shape."

Finite will be joined by jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. again and drew the outside post. 

Bonny South and Rest of the Field

The 1 1/16-mile race will be the stakes debut for another Munnings filly, Bonny South. The Juddmonte Farms homebred is trained by Brad Cox and was awarded the victory in a maiden special weight at Fair Grounds. It came after the disqualification of O Seraphina, who tested positive for levamisole.

On Feb. 15, Bonny South moved up to allowance-level company and came back from seventh to take a three-quarters of a length victory in 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park. 

"She got a really good speed figure out of the Oaklawn race, and I think it is very comparable to (Finite)," Cox said. "If she can get a good trip and move forward a little bit, I think this filly is going to make some noise. I've always liked her."

Trained by Bill Mott, Godolphin homebred Antoinette comes into the race after winning the Dec. 5 Tepin Stakes, a one-mile turn at Aqueduct Racetrack. Prior to that, Antoinette took a 1 1/16-mile maiden win on Belmont Park's inner turf. 

The field also includes Tempers Rising, fourth-place finisher in the Rachel Alexandra and third in the Silverbulletday, French Rose, and Stop Shoppin Tammy.