Pass the Champagne taking big step up in Central Bank Ashland

Trainer George Weaver almost made a run at the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in 2019, but his entrant, Point of Honor, did not have enough qualifying points.

On Saturday, Weaver will send out Pass the Champagne for her stakes debut in the $400,000 Central Bank Ashland (G1), which carries 170 qualifying points toward the April 30 Oaks on a scale of 100-40-20-10 to the first- through fourth-place finishers.

“It is a big step up for her and first time going two turns,” Weaver said Friday morning after the filly galloped on the main track under exercise rider Nick Bush. “Rusty (Arnold) had her the first time she ran, and we liked what we saw in her debut. They (new owners) negotiated a price and bought her with an eye toward the Oaks if we could do it.”

Five weeks after her debut, Pass the Champagne scored her first career win by 2½ lengths for the new ownership group of R. A. Hill Stable, Black Type Thoroughbreds, Rock Ridge Racing, Black Ridge Stables and James Brown.

“We expected her to run well (in her second start),” said Weaver, who will have Javier Castellano aboard Pass the Champagne for the first time in Saturday’s Central Bank Ashland. “We’re going to give it a shot.”

After Point of Honor failed to make the Oaks, she went on to win the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) two weeks later. She would go on to place second in three Grade 1 races and earn more than $700,000.

“They are different horses but I think Pass the Champagne has more natural speed,” Weaver said. “They are both class acting fillies.”