Justique After Oaks Points on Birthday in Santa Ynez

[Wandering Eyes]

'TDN Rising Star' Justique (Justify) turns the page while seeking her first graded victory as the 4-5 morning-line favorite against six others in the Santa Ynez S. at 'The Great RIP' on New Year's Day. This Grade III carries Kentucky Oaks points to the tune of 20-8-6-4-2, which will go to the top five finishers that are not associated with Bob Baffert.

A $750,000 '21 KEESEP purchase, the newly minted 3-year-old celebrated a debut win last summer by 2 1/2 lengths at Del Mar July 31. A half-sister to Coolmore America's stallion, Mo Town (Uncle Mo), this short-priced favorite rallied for third in Arcadia after taking on two turns Oct. 8 in the GII Chandelier S. Returning to Del Mar, Trainer John Shirreffs then decided to cut her back to seven panels in the Desi Arnaz S. and she responded in kind with a 2 1/4-length score under a hand ride. If Justique could put together a clean trip with some tactical adjustments, then she could blossom nicely as she takes to the Oaks Trail.

Speaking of the Baffert barn, he will enter a trio in a bid to win what would be his fourth Santa Ynez in-a-row. It appears that Huntingcoco (Practical Joke), Fast and Shiny (Bernardini) and Parody (Distorted Humor) have not flashed much in the way of speed under the California sun over the past few months, so a game effort is in order, if one of them wants to keep their conditioner's streak alive. One other entry worth mentioning is Ramona Bass's Ice Dancing (Frosted). The homebred broke her maiden Nov. 25 at Del Mar in front-running fashion after three prior attempts, and her early speed could offer an advantage if she can modulate the pace.

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