LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Perfect: Having all the required elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
Flawless: Without any blemishes or imperfections.
Whatever adjective one chooses, it fits Good Cheer.
Godolphin's homebred remained unchallenged in seven career starts with a 2 1/4-length victory over Drexel Hill in Friday's 151st running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks beneath the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs.
"I'm not certain what her ceiling is," said trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native who won the Oaks for the third time after saddling Monomoy Girl in 2018 and Shedaresthedevil 2020. "I'm not sure there is one."
Good Cheer ($4.78), who gave regular rider Luis Saez his second Oaks win after piloting Secret Oath in 2022, has won her seven starts by a combined 44 1/2 lengths. That includes four graded stakes in succession, as she won the Grade 2 Golden Rod last November at Churchill Downs, then handily annexed the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in New Orleans in preparation for the filly classic.
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"This filly picked up, and every race, she continued to improve," Cox said. "Obviously, she loves Churchill, she'll run on anything, and the further, the better. Very proud of her."
The time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:50.15. Good Cheer earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, matching her career best.
The Oaks was contested shortly after 6 p.m. Eastern on Friday - about 10 minutes later than originally carded due to a weather delay earlier in the card. A thunderstorm rolled in at about 4 p.m. and sent the pink-clad crowd scurrying for cover as any detritus not secured flew through the air in a strong wind. The maintenance crew hustled to seal the track following the prior race.
The Oaks was officially contested on a wet-fast and sealed track, which was of little concern to Good Cheer's camp, as she had won over a sloppy, sealed Churchill track last year.
Saez went to the gate with one goal - to keep his mount out of trouble.
"We know she's a very special filly," Saez said. "Of course, we were a little nervous, but we know she had a lot of talent, and I rode her pretty confident."
Good Cheer, who broke near the outside, was unhurried early by Saez. Meanwhile, Grade 1 Ashland winner La Cara - who trainer Mark Casse said this week would "take no prisoners" on the front end - hustled out after the lead. She took heat early from Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks winner Tenma, however, as that foe was quickly on her hip. They led the field around the first turn and into the backstretch through a half-mile in an honest 46.78 seconds.
At that point, Good Cheer was eighth and well outside, handled with supreme confidence by Saez. Less than nine lengths covered the entire field of 13, not an insurmountable margin for anyone. However, trainer Whit Beckman wasn't feeling optimistic watching the placement of his two trainees in that pack.
Simply Joking, who was expected to attend the pace, had gotten stuck behind horses on the inside and was not pleased by the kickback. Meanwhile, Drexel Hill was last of the 13.
“I didn’t like how far she set herself back for the first almost three-quarters of the race,” Beckman said. “[Jockey Ben Curtis] said . . . it just took her a minute to kind of put her stride together.”
Meanwhile, Good Cheer had begun easing her way by horses to fifth, still basically under her own power and still moving cleanly on the outside, as the field came around the turn for home.
“We did go around everybody, but when you ride these kind of horses, it doesn’t matter what move you make,” Saez said. “She was doing a fantastic job. I knew I had a lot of horse, and she responded well.”
La Cara, still racing inside of Tenma, kept up a fight under stout pressure until about the three-sixteenths pole before fading.
“It’s a tough race, for sure,” jockey Dylan Davis said. “She got tired here in the late stages. Nothing against her, she’s still a great filly, and she ran hard.”
While Tenma kept slugging her way along for a few yards, questions of who might inherit the lead were moot in an instant, as Good Cheer had been given her cue, and quickly sailed on by.
“She always passes the eyeball test, as we say,” Cox said. “She travels around the turn, and we're like, ‘Well, she’s coming,’ and then all of a sudden, in the blink of an eye, she’s three in front of them.”
Not quite three this time, but Good Cheer, with some left-handed urging from Saez, continued to cruise to her final margin while never undera serious threat.
Drexel Hill was making her first start since winning the Busher Invitational nearly nine weeks ago at Aqueduct. Since the filly had secured the points to make the Oaks field, Beckman was not keen on the idea of shipping around for another prep race considering the timing of what was available. She was still sixth in midstretch but rallied to be a clear second by 1 1/4 lengths over Bless the Broken, who had closed in near-tandem from seventh in the stretch.
“Good Cheer is such an impressive filly, catching her was going to be tough,” Beckman said. “I’m so proud of how she ran, and recouped off that slow start.”
Beckman, also a Louisville native, gestured to the infield winner’s circle, where fellow local Cox was accepting accolades.
“It’s amazing,” said the trainer, who was participating in his first Oaks a year after his first Kentucky Derby. “I’d rather be standing over there, but one day! No matter what happened, look at all this, look where we are.”
Trainer Will Walden, who battled substance abuse and has worked his way to his own successful career as a the latest generation in a family of Kentucky horsemen, also saddled his first Oaks starter in Bless the Broken, who got the wet track her trainer had wished for.
After Bless the Broken, it was 3 1/4 lengths to Tenma, who kept fighting while outkicked. Anna's Promise, a $50,000 claim in February who was a supplemental nominee, finished a creditable fifth. They were followed, in order, by Quietside, Quickick, Early On, La Cara, Ballerina d'Oro, Fondly, Take Charge Milady, and Simply Joking.
Five G, winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, was the lone scratch from what had been a full field of 14. Trainer George Weaver withdrew her on Thursday morning after not being happy with her appetite and her energy level during training.
While the dust - or mud, as it were - needs to settle, Cox said the Grade 1 races for the 3-year-old filly division in Saratoga "are all in play" for Good Cheer’s future, with the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar her long-range target.
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Looking to the more immediate future for Good Cheer's connections, all will participate in tomorrow's Kentucky Derby. Cox, who owns a Derby win by disqualification with Mandaloun in 2021, will saddle Final Gambit, who, like Mandaloun, is a Juddmonte homebred. Saez had opposite fortunes, crossing the line first in the 2019 Derby on Maximum Security but was disqualified for interference. He rides longshot Neoequos for Saffie Joseph Jr.
Godolphin has now won the Kentucky Oaks twice in the last three years, taking the race in 2023 with champion Pretty Mischievous, trained by Brendan Walsh. Sheikh Mohammed’s powerhouse operation is still looking for its first Kentucky Derby and sends out two colts tomorrow – Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, and East Avenue, trained by Walsh.
Like Good Cheer, Sovereignty and East Avenue are homebreds. Good Cheer is by the operation’s stalwart stallion Medaglia d’Oro and out of Grade 1 winner Wedding Toast, by Street Sense. East Avenue is also by Medaglia d’Oro.
“He’s a tremendous stallion,” said Michael Banahan, Godolphin's director of bloodstock in the U.S. “We’re fortunate enough to have another real nice 3-year-old colt that we’re going to see what he can do tomorrow.
“We can dream away tonight, anyway.”
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