Kentucky Oaks alumni update: Good Cheer and La Cara rematch in Alabama S.

Aug 15, 2025 Sara Dacus/TwinSpires.com

Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer looks to reassert her dominance in Saturday’s Alabama S. (G1) at Saratoga. The standout filly was perfect in her first seven starts, winning four consecutive graded stakes, but her streak snapped with a fifth-place finish in the Acorn S. (G1) at Saratoga, the track nicknamed “The graveyard of champions.” Winner La Cara, who finished ninth in the Oaks, is also entered in the Alabama, setting the stage for a rematch that could help determine the champion three-year-old filly.

La Cara. Good Cheer. Nitrogen. 👊

Watch and wager on the G1 Alabama this weekend with TwinSpires! 🏆💰 pic.twitter.com/7qlB1OhfYq

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) August 14, 2025

Trainer Brad Cox is pleased with Good Cheer’s workouts since the Acorn.

“She’s doing great,” Cox said. “She was perfect until the Acorn, and we can’t really come up with an excuse – maybe the [sloppy and sealed] racetrack, I guess, but you could tell she wasn’t traveling well throughout the race, so we’ll give her one more shot here going a mile and a quarter. She should like it, and we’ve given her plenty of time. She’s done well up here, so fingers crossed we get her back in the win column.”

Fillies helped take Cox’s career to the next level. He previously won the Kentucky Oaks with Monomoy Girl in 2018 and Shedaresthedevil in 2020. Monomoy Girl became a two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff champion. Seven of his eleven Breeders’ Cup wins have been with fillies and mares.

Cox trains Good Cheer for Godolphin, the stable of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. This year, Godolphin accomplished the Kentucky Oaks/Derby double, winning the latter with Sovereignty and trainer Bill Mott.

La Cara is trained by Mark Casse, who is a member of both the United States’ and Canada’s Racing Halls of Fame. Prior to the Oaks, La Cara won the Ashland S. (G1) at Keeneland. Casse also saddles Nitrogen, who enters off a nose defeat in the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) over the Saratoga turf. She has notched wins in graded stakes at Saratoga, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, and Tampa Bay.

'It's a dream come true,” Casse said of having two top contenders in the race. “I've been watching the Alabama since I was eight, and to have two legitimate chances…”

The Alabama is Race 10 on Saturday’s 12-race card, which also features the Skidmore S. in Race 9. First post is 12:34 pm ET.