Seventh heaven for Good Cheer with G1 Kentucky Oaks rout
Racenews
3 May, 2025
Good Cheer maintained her perfect record and provided Godolphin with a second G1 Kentucky Oaks in the space of three years as she stormed to victory in the 151st running of the fillies’ Classic at Churchill Downs on Friday, 2 May.
Bidding to emulate the 2023 winner Pretty Mischievous, the Brad Cox-trained filly lined up having won all six of her previous starts, including sweeping the G2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes and G2 Fair Grounds Oaks.
After breaking on terms, Good Cheer overcame some early scrimmaging to race in seventh of the 13 runners as La Cara and Tenma set the early fractions.
Luis Saez charted a wide path throughout on Good Cheer and moved up to press Simply Joking for fifth leaving the back.
Good Cheer challenged five-wide at the top of the straight and stayed on powerfully on the sloppy track to storm by La Cara and Tenma entering the final furlong.
The Medaglia d’Oro homebred readily opened up daylight over her rivals and saw out the nine-furlong trip full of running, hitting the line two and a quarter lengths clear of a staying-on Drexel Hill.
Brad Cox said: “I knew Good Cheer would keep coming and she’s awesome. She is so classy to deal with – I’ve said it for months – and she’s seven from seven. She’s perfect.
“She was probably a touch closer to the pace than I thought she would be. I figured they would be rolling, and I thought that we would have four or five fillies in front of us. It worked out that way and Luis did a good job of keeping her engaged early. She has plenty of mud on her but keeping her in the clear was a positive.
“She is hopefully going to be a champion. We have been very fortunate to have had a lot of good fillies in the barn and she ranks right up with them. It’s very special to get her first G1.”
Luis Saez said: “I felt Good Cheer deserved to be here and to wear the crown today, because she is so special. If you look at her, she isn’t that big and you would never think that she had that kind of heart. This filly is something else.”
