Yuugiri Tunes Up for Kentucky Oaks Start

With jockey Flavien Prat pinch-hitting for Florent Geroux, who rode at Oaklawn Park Saturday afternoon, Tsunebumi and Sekie Yoshihara’s Yuugiri worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.60 in company with Great Escape over a fast main track at Keeneland Sunday morning as she continued preparations for the May 6 Kentucky Oaks (G1). 

Winner of the Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn Park on April 2 to secure her spot in the Kentucky Oaks starting gate, Yuugiri broke off at the half-mile pole and recorded fractions of :24.20 and :48.40 in the move that occurred at 7:40 a.m. after the first track maintenance break. 

“She did it very easy,” said Prat, who will ride undefeated UAE Oaks (G3) winner Shahama in the Kentucky Oaks. “I was very happy with the work.” 

The work was the second since the Fantasy for Yuugiri, who breezed a half-mile in :50 here on April 16. 

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset’s wife, Brooke, oversaw the work for her husband, who was traveling back from Oaklawn. 

“We got what we wanted this morning,” Brooke said, adding that Yuugiri would work again here next Sunday morning, have a walk day on Monday and ship to Churchill Downs for the Oaks. At Churchill last fall, Yuugiri made her first three career starts with a victory and two runner-up finishes in stakes.