ATLANTIC OCEAN/SANTA CATARINA - The Bob Baffert barn sent its two Kentucky Oaks fillies to the track Thursday morning, one day before their dates in the 129th edition of the 3-year-old filly classic. Atlantic Ocean, who'll break from Post 8 in the Grade I headliner with David Flores up, went trackside at approximately 6:30 a.m. for a mile and one-half gallop. Her stablemate Santa Catarina, who gets Gary Stevens as a rider and Post 11 as a starting point, galloped a similar distance shortly after Churchill Downs' mid-morning training break at approximately 8:30. In both cases the fillies had local exercise rider Mick Jenner in the boot. Normally they would be handled by stable regular Dana Barnes, but the wife of assistant trainer Jim Barnes had returned to the family home in California and was replaced by the local pinch hitter. Trainer Baffert noted that he might put his pair on the track for some exercise the day of the race. "It'll depend on the weather," the silver-haired conditioner said. Local forecasts call for rain and possible thunderstorms in the Louisville area Thursday afternoon and evening with a possibility of a continuation through Friday morning.

BIRD TOWN/HOLIDAY LADY - Both Nick Zito trainees galloped 1 ¼ miles under exercise rider Maxine Correa today, and assistant trainer Reynaldo Abreu said "they are as best as they can be." Zito told reporters he was hopeful the track would not be "quite as fast" for the Oaks as it has been for other big races. "I don't understand - it's all the tracks, not just Churchill Downs - on big race days they all seem to be faster. It makes no sense."

ELLOLUV - The Ashland Stakes winner galloped 1 ¼ miles with exercise rider Enrique Alferez. "She was perfect. She's an angel," trainer Craig Dollase said as he walked her around the shedrow later. "I'm happy with my position. It's the shortest way around," Dollase added, referring to the fact that she'll break from the rail.

GO FOR GLAMOUR - The Santa Anita Oaks show horse jogged a half-mile and galloped 1 3/8 miles, and trainer Beau Greely said she "went super." Go For Glamour schooled in the paddock Wednesday afternoon and was scheduled to go back later today. "It's a good race," Greely said. "There's a long stretch, a lot of speed; they're not going to give anything away. "If she can sit out a little bit, she'll have a big shot coming down the stretch. I'd be delighted to win, but if we hit the board, it'd be fine."

IN CASE OF WIND - The Trackside-based filly walked today, and trainer Bill Million said that's all she'll do Friday morning. "If she's not tight enough now, I'm in trouble," Million said. He expects to ship from Trackside about 8 a.m. Friday and arrive here at 8:30.

ISLAND FASHION - The WinStar/Sunland Oaks winner just jogged today. Afterward, trainer Nick Canani talked about how the Oaks is shaping up on paper. "It looks like a race that when the gate opens, the riders are going to make their own decisions. There will be 12 different fillies and 12 different ideas. (Our) being in the 12-hole, there's not much you can do. They'll just try to get inside." Canani said Island Fashion is very responsive to moves like that. "She's a really smart filly," he said.

LADY TAK - Heiligbrodt Racing Stable's Lady Tak visited the starting gate and then galloped a mile before the renovation break under exercise rider Lisa Orn. A paddock schooling session is scheduled with Thursday afternoon's fourth race. Lady Tak will break from post seven in Friday's Kentucky Oaks under Jerry Bailey. "Everything is fine. Now just line them up and run," said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. "She has had a good three weeks here (since the Ashland)."

MY BOSTON GAL - Beaumont Stakes winner My Boston Gal galloped under exercise rider Tracey Wilkes shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday. Trainer Carl Nafzger was asked what the ideal scenario would be for My Boston Gal to prevail in the Oaks. "Have the other 11 behind me. That will be the ideal scenario," Nafzger said. "I don't think anybody can lay this race out. There is too much tactical speed and there is not really a closer in here. It will be a jockeys' race. You let a speed horse get out there easy and you are not going to catch her. Everybody has the ability to be on the lead and everybody has the ability to be two or three lengths off it."

TEMPUS FUGIT - Kenny McPeek's trainee galloped 1 ½ miles Thursday under exercise rider Helen Pitts, and the trainer said "she's doing fine." McPeek likes to handicap the races his horses are in but said he hadn't had a chance to look at the Daily Racing Form for Friday's Oaks. That's understandable - McPeek is training "60-some" horses, spread these days among Churchill Downs, Keeneland and New York. "We're just getting stronger and stronger," he said. "The quality of horses is better, too."

YELL - After shipping in Wednesday, the Davona Dale Stakes winner got her first look at the Churchill Downs track Thursday, galloping an "easy mile" under exercise rider Donna McMullen in the words of assistant trainer Graham Wolfram. "She handled it fine," Wolfram said. "Because of the shipping, we took it easy. We kind of just gave her some time out of the stall so she could get some rest." She was scheduled to school in the paddock at 11:30 a.m.

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