Bottle of Rouge headed to Kentucky after impressive Virginia Oaks win

Bottle of Rouge overtook pacesetter Dazzling Dame in upper stretch and drew off to a 4 ¼-length victory in Saturday’s Virginia Oaks to give the 3-year-old Vino Rosso filly her second straight stakes win and third overall.

Bottle of Rouge earned 37.5 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1), moving her into third behind stablemate Explora (95) and Bella Ballerina (60).

Soon after the break, Bottle of Rouge was between horses, then after a quarter-mile backed out and settled into third. Dazzling Dame was setting some quick fractions: :45.64 for the half-mile and 1:09.74 for six furlongs. At that point, Bottle of Rouge swung to the outside to mount her challenge. She readily passed the early leader and drew away from there to finish the 1 1/16-miles in 1:41.41 on fast track.

“She’s been a lot of fun to travel with” said longtime Bob Baffert assistant Jimmy Barnes. “She ran well at Sunland and came here and won. I wasn’t sure how the race would set up because there was a lot of speed, but we were able to settle her. She rated well, and Flavien (jockey Prat) was patient and found a hole to get through. She did the rest. We have two really nice fillies with her and Explora, and we’re looking forward to getting to Churchill.”

Bottle of Rouge is owned by Baffert’s wife Jill. Winner of the Del Mar Debutante (G1) last year and the Sunland Park Oaks in her most recent outing before Saturday, Bottle of Rouge is now 4-1-0 in six starts and has earned $577,000.