Explora, Bottle of Rouge post positions set for Kentucky Oaks (G1) 152

The post positions for the May 1st Kentucky Oaks (G1) were drawn Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs, with the Bob Baffert-trained duo of Explora and Bottle of Rouge drawing posts 1 and 8, respectively.

Baffert has won the Oaks on three occasions, first with Silverbulletday in 1999, then Plum Pretty in 2011, and most recently with Abel Tasman in 2017.

Explora won the Honeybee S. (G3) in her most recent start and one the Oak Leaf S. (G2) at 2. Her overall record is 4-3-0 in seven starts, with earnings of $1,053,000. Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Explora has been favored in all seven of her starts. Flavien Prat has the mount.

Baffert also will send out Bottle of Rouge for his wife Jill. The gray daughter of Vino Rosso has won four of six lifetime starts and earned $577,000.

Bottle of Rouge, winner of the Del Mar Debutante (G1) last summer and the recent Virginia Oaks, will be ridden by two-time Oaks winner Mike Smith, who also rode Abel Tasman.

For the first time in history the Kentucky Oaks will be run at night. As race 13 in the stakes-filled card, the Oaks has a scheduled post time of 8:40 pm ET and can be seen on the NBC family of networks.