LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Malathaat is the 5-2 morning-line favorite and will start from the No. 10 post for Friday’s 147th Kentucky Oaks.
The race for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs comes a day before the Kentucky Derby.
Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, Malathaat has won all four starts. Pletcher is going for his fourth Oaks victory and first since 2013 with Princess of Sylmar.
Search Results, winner of all three races and trained by Chad Brown, and Travel Column, trained by Brad Cox, are co-second choices at 3-1. They drew, respectively, the No. 12 and No. 6 posts Monday for the 1 1/8-mile race. Clairiere, trained by Steve Asmussen, is the 5-1 third choice from the No. 3 post in the $1.25 million race.
Malathaat’s victories include the Ashland at Keeneland on April 3 in which she beat fellow Oaks entrant Pass the Champagne by a head with Joel Rosario aboard. Rosario has Millefeuille, a 20-1 choice from the No. 14 slot.
Cox, a Louisville native, has two chances to earn his second consecutive Oaks victory and third in four years. He is also saddling Coach, who will start from the No. 9 post as one of three 50-1 longshots.
Travel Column finished 18 points behind in second to Search Results on the Oaks trail and has a Churchill Downs win among three in her career, with a second and a third in five starts.
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