At the moment she is a filly that her connections hope will find a
way into the 14-horse starting gate for the 136th Kentucky Oaks, but
Sheer Beauty continues to train like a filly who could make some noise
if she should find a way to run in America’s premiere race for
3-year-old fillies on Friday, April 30.
L.T.B. Inc. and Miles Childers’ gray daughter of Mizzen Mast breezed
four furlongs Saturday over a “good” track in :48.40 just after 7 a.m.,
a training move that ranked 14th of 54 at the distance. Jockey James
Graham was aboard for the work as Sheer Beauty covered the distance in
fractional times of :12 .20, :24 40, :36.60 and galloped out five
furlongs in 1:01.80.
Trainer and co-owner Bernie Flint beamed over the work by Sheer
Beauty, who is coming off a dead-heat third-place finish with fellow
Oaks hopeful Seeking the Title in the Fair Grounds Oaks (GII), but was
more subdued when he talked of the filly’s position on the list of
graded earnings for Oaks contenders. She current is tied for 21st for
a race that is limited to 14 fillies with preference given to fillies
with highest total earnings in graded stakes races.
“Graham jumped off and said, ‘Good to go’,” said Flint. “He really
liked the way she went. We [jogged] a mile before we breezed her and
she galloped out in a minute-one and a couple. He didn’t really ask
her to run – he said he moved his hands a little bit.”
Flint said he would continue to train Sheer Beauty as if she would
make the 14-filly Oaks field. He said the Eight Belles (GIII) at 7
½-furlongs on Kentucky Derby Day would be a fallback position – but not
one he is anxious to pursue. He believes Sheer Beauty would thrive at
the Oaks distance of 1 1/8-miles.
"I really don’t want to go back to a sprinting mile, and that’s
little short of a sprinting mile,” said Flint. “I want to go around
two turns. If I don’t get in and it works out that way, it just works
out that way. There’s nothing I can do about it.”