Undefeated Good Cheer was tabbed the 6-5 morning-line favorite as she goes for her seventh straight victory on Friday when she faces 13 other 3-year-old fillies in the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.
The Godolphin homebred, trained by two-time Oaks winner Brad Cox, has never been threatened in winning her six starts by margins ranging from 2 ½ to 17 lengths, including a 3-for-3 record at Churchill Downs. As a juvenile, she won the Golden Rod (G2) by 2 ½ lengths over fellow Oaks entrant Quietside on Nov. 30, took the listed Rags to Riches by 4 2/3 lengths on Oct. 27, and blew away an allowance field by 17 lengths on Sept. 28, all at 1 1/16 miles.
The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro completed her final preparations for the 1 1/8-mile Oaks on April 25, covering 5 furlongs in 1:00.80 at Churchill Downs.
“She continues to do well in her training, and [we’re] expecting a big effort,” said Cox, who this year saddled her to wins in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and the Rachel Alexandra (G2). “The further, the better.”
While most of the field is expected to go off at 10-1 or greater, Good Cheer’s main competition is expected to come from Grade 1 winner La Cara (6-1), who earned a 105 Equibase speed figure with her gritty front-running win on April 7 at Keeneland in the Ashland.
“She’s a machine,” said trainer Mark Casse of the Street Sense filly, who carries a record of 9-4-2-0 into the Oaks.
Expected to receive considerable support as well is Quietside (8-1), who started 2025 when second as the beaten favorite in the Martha Washington and followed that with victories in the Honeybee (G3) and the Fantasy (G2), all at Oaklawn Park. The Shortleaf Stable filly has never been worse than third for trainer John Ortiz in seven starts, five of them graded stakes.
Tenma (12-1) comes in from the West coast for trainer Bob Baffert, carrying a record of five wins from six starts, including a Grade 1 victory in the Del Mar Debutante in 2024 in her second career start, and three straight graded stakes wins in the Starlet (G2, the Las Virgenes (G3), and the Santa Anita Oaks (G2).
Trainer Kenny McPeek, who won last year’s Oaks with Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, returns with Take Charge Milady, second by 1 ¼ lengths in the Ashland, while Ballerina d’Oro comes in off a win in Aqueduct’s Gazelle (G2) for trainer Chad Brown, and the lightly raced Virginia Oaks winner Fondly comes into graded stakes competition for the first time for trainer Graham Motion.
Rounding out the field are Early On, Simply Joking, Drexel Hill, Quickick, Five G, Anna’s Promise, and Bless the Broken.
Post time for the Oaks is 5:51 p.m. ET.
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