Pauline's Pearl

Pauline’s Pearl needed three starts to earn her first career win, drawing clear to win by 3 ½ lengths Feb. 12, 2021, on a sloppy main track at Fair Grounds. Trainer Steve Asmussen next tested her against graded stakes competition in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes and she rallied from sixth to finish second in her stakes debut, beaten by three-quarters of a length by Will’s Secret.

In her final prep race for the Longines Kentucky Oaks, Pauline’s Pearl was sent off as the odds-on favorite for the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes April 3 at Oaklawn Park, where she wore down pacesetter Ava’s Grace in deep stretch to prevail and punch her ticket to Louisville.

Pauline’s Pearl finished eighth as a longshot in the Kentucky Oaks but rebounded to hit the board in three Grade 3 stakes and then won the listed Zia Park Oaks to close out 2021. She returned as a 4-year-old in 2022 and started with a 3 ¾-length win in the Houston Ladies Classic Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park on Jan. 30.

Pauline’s Pearl next finished second to 2021 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Ce Ce in the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes March 12 at Oaklawn Park before earning a breakthrough Grade 1 win in the Grade La Troienne Stakes presented by Signify Health on the May 6 Longines Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs. Pauline’s Pearl rallied gamely through the Churchill stretch and caught Shedaresthedevil in the closing strides of the La Troienne for a determined victory.  Based on that top-level win, she was sent off as the 2-5 favorite against a small field in the Shawnee Stakes at Churchill on June 4, a prep for the Fleur de Lis Stakes under the twin spires on July 2. She finished fourth of five runners in a perplexing effort.

A gray or roan filly by leading sire Tapit, Pauline’s Pearl is out of Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick, by Dixie Union.