Bottle of Rouge shows her class with handy Sunland Oaks win

Bottle of Rouge picked up her first 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) Sunday with her 1 ½-length victory in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks.

Trained by Bob Baffert for his wife Jill, Bottle of Rouge won her maiden and the Del Mar Debutante (G1) before an even effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) last Halloween.

Away from the races since then, Bottle of Rouge got a good stalking trip in Sunday’s one-mile race. Third through the first half-mile, she made a three-wide move for the lead going into the final bend. Coming into the stretch, Bottle of Rouge led by a length, then dug in to hold off Touch of Magic in deep stretch.

With the win, Bottle of Rouge is 3-1-0 in five starts and has earned $427,000.

Should she continue on the Kentucky Oaks trail, Bottle of Rouge will need one more points-earning finish to secure her spot on the first Friday in May. Baffert also has Explora, who Bottle of Rouge defeated in the Debutante, on the Oaks trail.

Baffert has now won a record nine runnings of Sunland’s marquee race for 3-year-old fillies.