Walsh hopes to be toasting Clicquot after Indiana Oaks at Horseshoe Indianapolis

If you’re going to have a hunch bet, might as well have it on the good stuff.

In 2018, trainer Rodolphe Brisset won the $200,000 Grade 3 Indiana Oaks with the favorite Talk Veuve to Me. Now, another Kentucky-based trainer, Brendan Walsh, brings in the morning-line favorite for Indiana’s marquee race for 3-year-old fillies with Clicquot (photo).

What they have in common is being named for the historic champagne Veuve Clicquot.

“There you go,” Walsh said, “It might be an omen.”

For a bit of history, Madame Clicquot created the first vintage champagne in 1810, ultimately establishing the white sparkling wine made in France’s Champagne region as the drink of choice in high society and for celebrations. Veuve means “widow” in French, and Madame Clicquot was 27 when her husband died.

There’s an excellent chance of a bubbly celebration after the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Oaks. Clicquot (a cleverly-named daughter of the stallion Quality Road and the Tapit mare Royal Obsession) was made the 8-5 favorite for the field of six off a strong Churchill Downs allowance race victory at the Indiana Oaks distance.

“Tons of talent, always showed us plenty,” Walsh said by phone. “We’ve liked her from day one. We were able to give her plenty of time. She was a little bit of a late starter. Hopefully, we can make up for it now. This will be her fourth race. Hopefully, she keeps improving; and if she does, she should be very competitive on Saturday.”

The Indiana Oaks, presented by Daily Racing Form, is one of eight stakes on Saturday’s 13-race card that also includes the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby. First post for the day is noon with the Indiana Oaks set as Race 11 with an estimated post time of 5:55 p.m. and the Indiana Derby (6:33 p.m.) as Race 12.

The Churchill performance came in Clicquot's first race around two turns. In her first two starts sprinting, the filly was part of a very fast pace to fade to sixth at Gulfstream Park before winning a seven-furlong Keeneland maiden race by six lengths.

“We’re taking it one step at a time, and this looks like a good next step for her,” Walsh said. “I’m looking forward to it … They’re only 3 once, so it will be nice to take a shot at this. (Graded stakes) are very important for fillies.”

Edgar Morales has the mount on the gun-metal gray Clicquot for owners X-men Racing and Madaket Stables.

“Edgar is very good. He’s ridden plenty for me and he’s ridden plenty in Indiana,” Walsh said. “He’s a great help to us. He comes in and rides a lot of work for us week in, week out, and we’re delighted to have him on board. He’s a very good rider, and horses run for him. We like Edgar a lot. It would be nice if he could win a nice race like that for us.”

Walsh also has the duo of Storm Miami and Hope Mission in the $100,000 Indiana General Assembly Distaff for older fillies and mares on turf. Both are coming out of an allowance race in early June during Saratoga’s Belmont Stakes festival, with Storm Miami winning and her stablemate finishing sixth. 

“Storm Miami is coming in off a nice win, and Hope Mission is a filly we’ve always thought a lot of,” Walsh said. “She was a little disappointing the last day at Saratoga, but she’s got lots of talent and hopefully she can make up for it here.”

No horse in the Indiana Oaks field of six has as much stakes experience as Godolphin’s Deloraine, who makes her first start since finishing third in Aqueduct’s April 5 Gazelle (G3). That’s one of a trio of thirds in stakes in the Candy Ride filly’s last three starts, the others being in the Florida Oaks (G3) on turf and before that Tampa Bay Downs’ $150,000 Suncoast on dirt.

Along the way, Deloraine has faced stiff competition. Florida Oaks winner Nitrogen has stamped herself as the best 3-year-old turf filly in the country, and Florida Oaks runner-up Lush Lips just won a $250,000 stakes at Churchill Downs. La Cara used a Suncoast victory as a stepping stone to Grade 1 scores in Keeneland’s Ashland and New York’s Acorn.

“Just looking at the field, there are a few in there who look like they’re a little bit better,” trainer Eoin Harty said by phone. “But my filly is training very well. I think she’s sitting on a very good effort. Whether that’s good enough remains to be seen. She’s probably a little better on turf. Some of the dirt races come up a bit easier than the turf races, and that’s why she’s been hitting them. She’s certainly enhancing her value as a broodmare by picking up this black type (stakes-placings).”

Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who is coming to Horseshoe Indianapolis to ride Publisher in the Indiana Derby, will ride Deloraine. Smith, who won the 2007 Indiana Oaks with Tessa Blue back when the race was at Hoosier Park, rode Deloraine in the Gazelle.

“He felt she ran a big race in New York and felt she was capable of a little better,” Harty said.

He said of Clicquot: “Her (handicapping) numbers basically tower over everybody else’s, except for maybe Brad Cox’s filly (Heavenly Sunset, second in Clicquot’s allowance victory). She looks competitive. But none of them are as stakes-tested, which gives you a little hope.”

Deloraine is a daughter of Candy Ride. Her dam, Elaine’s Cat, was unraced but is a daughter of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Unbridled Elaine. The immediate female family includes Grade 1 winner Glitter Woman, who produced Grade 1 winner Political Force.

Also in the Indiana Oaks are:

• Heavenly Sunset, cross-entered in the Iowa Oaks, but will run in Indiana, said trainer Brad Cox. She’s the 9-5 second choice.
• Sturgeon Moon, making her first start for trainer Will Walden and in her first race since she was fourth in Churchill Downs’ Golden Rod on Nov. 30.
• Horseshoe Indianapolis-based Top, who has two wins and a second in her three starts at the meet, capped by a 3 1/2-length allowance win sprinting for trainer Michelle Elliott.
• Goldeneye Magic brings in five wins and two thirds in eight starts in Ohio as she ships in from owner-trainer Jason DaCosta’s Thistledown base. In her last start, the daughter of Mucho Macho Man won the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline by a nose at 31-1 on the Ohio Derby undercard. 

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