Updated Road to the Kentucky Oaks Point Standings - wave3.com-Louisville News, Weather & Sports

Updated Road to the Kentucky Oaks Point Standings following Saturday's Honeybee at Oaklawn Park

Churchill Downs

Attached is the updated Road to the Kentucky Oaks Point Standings following Saturday's Honeybee at Oaklawn Park. Rose to Gold scored a front-running 2 ¾-length win over favorite Flashy Gray, and collected 50 points for the win. She entered the race with 14 points and boosted her total to 64, which puts her second on the preference list behind Beholder. Both have 64 points, but Beholder has a $1,320,000 to $477,889 advantage in the non-restricted stakes earnings tiebreaker. Flashy Gold debuted with 20 points and is ranked eighth on the list. American Sugar earned 10 points for third but does not appear on the leaderboard because she was not an early Kentucky Oaks nominee. Liberty Girl was fourth and earned five points.

The series continues next week with the six-furlong Cicada at Aqueduct.

HOW TO GET INTO THE KENTUCKY OAKS STARTING GATE – The "Road to the Kentucky Oaks" is a 35-race series that awards points to the Top 4 finishers in each race. The Top 14 point earners nominated to the Kentucky Oaks will earn a spot in the starting gate for the 139^th running of the Grade I, $1 million Kentucky Oaks on Friday, May 3. The 1 1/8-mile Oaks is the nation's premier race for 3-year-old fillies.

* Triple Crown Nominated

KENTUCKY OAKS PREP SEASON POINTS EARNED THIS WEEK:

NOT KENTUCKY OAKS NOMINATED – Shuruq (54 points); Lovely Pass-IRE (30), Kauai Katie (21); Gal About Town (18); Music Chart (12); Certify (10); Redressthebalance-IRE (10); American Sugar (10); My Special J's (5); Cloudy Vow (5); Cor Cor (4); Blonde Fog (4); Roz-GB (4); Marks Mine (4); Asiya (4); Miss Empire (2); Switch to the Lead (2); Amazonas-IRE (2); Giant Cats Eye (2); Ruby Lips (2); Cloudy in Sandiego (2); Pow Wow Wow (2); Power Lady (2); Dawn's Charm (2); Sweet Tess (2); American Sugar (1); Tara From the Cape (1); Madame Cactus (1); Nancy O-IRE (1); Coconut Shrimp (1); Seasoned Warrior (1); Shenandoah Lady (1); Mar Mar-IRE (1); Masarah-IRE (1); Majestic Minister-IRE (1); Cupids Messenger (1); and Macha (1).

TIEBREAKERS – If two or more horses have the same number of points, the tiebreaker is earnings in non-restricted stakes races.

ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS VS. MALES – If a filly wants to run in the Kentucky Derby she can, but she'll have to earn her way into the field by accumulating points against open company just like the rest of the colts and geldings and be nominated to the Triple Crown. Additionally, any points earned by a filly in the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" series against open company will be credited to her point total in the "Road to the Kentucky Oaks" series.

DEAD-HEATS – In the event of a dead-heat (tie) in a "Road to the Kentucky Oaks" race, those horses will divide equally the points they would have received jointly had one beaten the other.

SPLIT DIVISIONS – In the event a "Road to the Kentucky Oaks" race is split into divisions and each division awards its originally published purse money, points will be awarded as scheduled for each division. If the originally published purse is halved for each division, points will be halved as well.

SCHEDULE CHANGES – No changes to the 2013 schedule are planned at this time. Churchill Downs officials will review which races will be included in the "Road to the Kentucky Oaks" series annually. Plans call for the schedule of races to be announced each July.

NOMINATIONS – Fillies born in 2010 were made eligible to run in this year's Kentucky Oaks with a $200 early payment due on Feb. 23, 2013. A late period for nominations at $1,500 each will close Wednesday, April 10, 2013. A supplemental nomination of $30,000 may be made at the time of entry. In addition to the Oaks nomination fee, owners must pay $5,000 to enter the Oaks by 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, and an additional $5,000 to start.

POST POSITION DRAW – The Kentucky Oaks post position draw – a traditional "pill pull" in which horses' entry blanks are pulled simultaneously with a numbered pill to determine what stall a horse will break from the starting gate – will be held in the Churchill Downs' Racing Office on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at 11 a.m. ET. Up to 18 horses may enter the race and four horses can be listed as "also eligible" and would be ranked in order accordingly; they could draw into the field should any horse(s) be scratched before scratch time on Friday, May 3, 2013 at 9 a.m. ET.

PRIZE MONEY – The Kentucky Oaks winner will receive a silver trophy plus an estimated $564,200 payday. A total of $182,000 will be awarded to the runner-up, $91,000 to third, $45,500 to fourth; $27,300 to fifth; and $10,000 each to sixth through last.

ABOUT OAKS DAY – In recent decades, the day prior to the Kentucky Derby, known as Oaks Day, has grown to become the third largest attended horse race in America. The 2012 crowd was 112,552, which marked the 12^th time in the last 13 years that attendance has topped 100,000. Its focus on fashion and celebrities rivals Derby Day and features a "Ladies First" theme, complete with a "Pink Out" to raise vital funds and awareness for charities. A total of 28 Oaks winners were crowned champions, including Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra (2009); legends Susan's Girl (1972), Cicada (1962) and Davona Dale (1979); and fellow Hall of Fame inductees Bold 'n Determined (1980), Dark Mirage (1968), Princess Doreen (1924), Princess Rooney (1983), Real Delight (1952) and Silverbulletday (2009).

 KENTUCKY OAKS PREP SEASON

(Points: 10-4-2-1)

 KENTUCKY OAKS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

First Leg of Series (Points: 50-20-10-5)

Second Leg of Series (Points: 100-40-20-10)

Wild Card (Points: 20-8-4-2)

 DO = Days until May 3, 2013 Kentucky Oaks; WO = Weeks until May 3, 2013 Kentucky Oaks; Gr. = Grade; M = Miles; Y = Yards; F = Furlongs; (T) = Turf; (S) = Synthetic