Friday is Oaks Day at Churchill Downs, and I come bearing free Kentucky Oaks selections and spot plays.

To be honest, I miss doing this more often, and I’m excited about racing going back to Saratoga in five weeks so I can produce the content so many people know me for/expect out of me. Alas, between my full-time job, a bunch of stuff happening in my personal life that keeps me busy, and the usual things that pop up for everybody from time to time, it’s been a while.

Let’s see if we can pick a few winners and make a few bucks on Kentucky Oaks day. Here are the horses my day will go through…

Race #2: #3 Chopsticks (9/2 ML)

I’ll start off by saying that I highly, highly doubt we’ll get the morning line price on this returning 3-year-old filly. Brad Cox trains, Irad Ortiz Jr. sees fit to ride, and she’s been working very, very well ahead of her first start since October. However, I think she’s very much the horse to beat in the second race of the program, and I’d still bet this horse at the 3-1 price I think she’ll go off at.

Chopsticks started off her career in impressive fashion. She won at first asking here at Churchill Downs, and she then added the Debutante at Ellis Park. She then tried Grade 1 company in the Frizette, but she didn’t fire, at all, whatsoever, and it’s clear something went wrong because we haven’t seen her since.

A steady string of workouts in Florida has me optimistic, and the rider switch to Ortiz is a big one. She does face older company here, which is the one thing I’m not crazy about, but it doesn’t seem like a terribly strong field for the level. 3-1 morning line favorite Five a Side ran one big race two back at Turfway, but hasn’t replicated that form on dirt, and many other opponents have been at this level for quite a while.

Race #7 (Unbridled Sidney): #5 Queen Maxima (7/2 ML) and #4 Creed’s Gold (20-1 ML)

One of the strongest opinions I have this week isn’t a play, but a “play against,” and that’s #6 Shisospicy. Perhaps she’s the same horse she was last year, but I have some doubts. She’s been away six months, comes back for a barn that’s cooled off significantly from a red-hot 2025 campaign, and may be compromised by several other speed horses directly to her outside. If she beats me, I’ll tip my cap and move on, but this hits me as an ideal spot to take a swing.

I much prefer Queen Maxima, whose race last time out was over before it started. She was an impressive winner of this race last year, so we know her form travels to Churchill Downs, and her best is absolutely good enough to make it two scores in a row in this event.

I’m also going to use Creed’s Gold, one of four horses I profiled in a piece for ABR earlier this week. She’s run well twice this year, has shipped well to a variety of tracks, and she should get a pace to run at beneath new jockey Flavien Prat.

Race #11 (La Troienne): #9 Fully Subscribed (7/2 ML)

My best bet of the entire Kentucky Oaks card is this Chad Brown trainee, who’s been working up a storm in Florida. Fully Subscribed won back-to-back graded stakes races at Aqueduct by open lengths late last year before going to the sidelines, and she hits me as a significant candidate to improve from age three to age four.

Fully Subscribed hasn’t run a bad one to this point in her career, and with the work tab what it is, I don’t think she does that for the first time on Friday. Furthermore, for a Grade 1, this race just doesn’t appear very strong. If Fully Subscribed is ready to run (and I think she is), I think she’s strictly the one to beat.

Race #13 (Kentucky Oaks): #11 Percy’s Bar (6-1 ML) and #9 Always a Runner (10-1 ML)

We’ll finish things up with the Kentucky Oaks, and I’ll be riding with a pair of “A horses.” I’ve liked Percy’s Bar ever since she won the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland. From where I sit, #2 Zany ran her race that day, and Percy’s Bar blew her off her feet. Furthermore, she came out of that race with an outstanding workout at Keeneland, so I’m not anticipating a “bounce” or any sort of regression. It feels like she’s improved considerably from age two to age three, and even though she may not be favored, I think she’s the horse to beat.

The other horse that intrigues me is another price I shouted out on ABR. Always a Runner has only run twice, but the more I look, the more I like her. She didn’t have much pace to run at last time in the Grade 3 Gazelle, but she came and got a loose-on-the-lead winner. This spot will almost certainly have significantly more pace signed on, and that, combined with her potential to improve in just her third lifetime start, makes her dangerous.