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Pauline's Pearl won the Fantasy by one length as the 4-5 favorite under Ricardo Santana Jr.
Pauline's Pearl continued her ascent in the 3-year-old filly division with a victory in the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) Saturday at Oaklawn.
A homebred for Stonestreet Stables LLC (Barbara Banke) and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, Pauline's Pearl earned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 89, a career best, for her one-length victory over Ava's Grace to secure a spot in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) April 30 at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Oaks is the nation's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies.
The royally bred Pauline's Pearl, by Tapit out of Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick (a half-sister to 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming), was exiting a troubled second-place finish in her stakes debut, the $300,000 Honeybee (G3) March 6 at Oaklawn. Her Beyer figures, a numerical representation of performance, have improved throughout her five-race career, rising from 61 in her debut sprinting Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds, to 70, 74, 81 in the Honeybee and now 89. The last four starts for Pauline's Pearl have come at 1 1/16 miles.