{"id":276494,"date":"2025-07-20T04:31:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T04:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276494\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T04:31:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T04:31:24","slug":"immersive-aims-to-reclaim-her-throne-in-the-coaching-club-american-oaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276494\/","title":{"rendered":"Immersive Aims to Reclaim Her Throne in the Coaching Club American Oaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Losing Her Undefeated Record in Her Return, Godolphin\u2019s Champion Faces La Cara, Fresh off a Stunning Win in the Acorn Stakes (G1)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Immersive<\/p>\n

Immersive at Her Spinaway Victory in Saratoga<\/strong> <\/strong>\/ ADAM COGLIANESE \/ NYRA<\/p>\n

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York (Special for Turf Diario).- After making her comeback and suffering the first defeat of her career, champion\u00a0Immersive<\/strong>\u00a0will look to return to her winning ways this Saturday in the\u00a0Coaching Club American Oaks (G1, 9 furlongs, dirt, $500,000)<\/strong>, one of America\u2019s most historic summer targets for three-year-old fillies.<\/p>\n

Bred in Kentucky by\u00a0Godolphin<\/strong>\u00a0and trained by\u00a0Brad Cox<\/strong>, the daughter of\u00a0Nyquist<\/strong>\u00a0was crowned last season\u2019s Champion Two-Year-Old Filly after an undefeated four-race campaign, highlighted by wins in the\u00a0Spinaway Stakes (G1)<\/strong>\u00a0at Saratoga, the\u00a0Alcibiades Stakes (G1)<\/strong>\u00a0at Keeneland, and the\u00a0Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1)<\/strong>\u00a0at Del Mar, all under\u00a0Manny Franco<\/strong>, who retains the mount from the rail.<\/p>\n

After an extended layoff to address a minor bone issue, Immersive returned on June 14 in the\u00a0Monomoy Girl Stakes (L)<\/strong>\u00a0at Churchill Downs. There, she showed her trademark grit, dueling down the lane with\u00a0Take Charge Milady<\/strong>\u00a0(Take Charge Indy) before missing by just a nose in 1:43.17 for 1 1\/16 miles. \u201cShe needed that race. She came out of it well, galloped out strongly, and is ready to take a step forward. I feel she\u2019s back to where she was last year,\u201d said Cox, who has won this race twice before, with\u00a0Monomoy Girl<\/strong>\u00a0(Tapizar, 2018) and\u00a0Wet Paint<\/strong>\u00a0(Blame, 2023).<\/p>\n

Out of\u00a0Gap Year<\/strong>\u00a0(Bernardini) and from the family of G1 winner\u00a0Dubai Escapade<\/strong>\u00a0(Awesome Again), Immersive has a record of 4 wins and a second from 5 starts, with earnings exceeding $1.6 million. Godolphin has a strong history in the Coaching Club American Oaks, winning previously with\u00a0Jilbab<\/strong>\u00a0(A.P. Indy, 2002),\u00a0Music Note<\/strong>\u00a0(A.P. Indy, 2008),\u00a0It\u2019s Tricky<\/strong>\u00a0(Mineshaft, 2011),\u00a0Questing<\/strong>\u00a0(Hard Spun, 2012), and last year with Wet Paint.<\/p>\n

Among her main rivals is G1 winner\u00a0La Cara<\/strong>, bred by\u00a0Tracy Farmer<\/strong>\u00a0and trained by\u00a0Mark Casse<\/strong>. The daughter of\u00a0Street Sense<\/strong>\u00a0arrives off an impressive victory in the\u00a0Acorn Stakes (G1)<\/strong>\u00a0over a sloppy track at this same distance and venue, where she dictated terms and drew clear by three lengths. Earlier in the year, she dominated the\u00a0Ashland Stakes (G1)<\/strong>\u00a0at Keeneland before failing to fire on a wet-fast surface in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loves her job and trains with real enthusiasm,\u201d said Casse. \u201cDylan [Davis] told me the mud at Belmont was different than Churchill\u2019s, and he was right\u2014she handled it perfectly.\u201d With a record of 5 wins and 2 seconds from 11 starts and over $1.1 million in earnings, La Cara is from a strong female line, being out of a Bernardini mare and a granddaughter of Bernardini, making her a niece of G1 winners\u00a0To Honor and Serve<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Angela Renee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Also in the field is\u00a0Scottish Lassie<\/strong>, trained by\u00a0Jorge Abreu<\/strong>\u00a0and to be ridden by\u00a0Joel Rosario<\/strong>. The daughter of\u00a0McKinzie<\/strong>\u00a0captured the\u00a0Frizette Stakes (G1)<\/strong>\u00a0at Belmont impressively in her second career start but has not won since. She was fourth in the Breeders\u2019 Cup and has two thirds this season, including her most recent effort behind La Cara in the Acorn. \u201cShe\u2019s doing really well and ready to run a big one. She might have tired late last time, but I really like how she\u2019s coming into this race,\u201d Abreu said.<\/p>\n

Take Charge Milady<\/strong>\u00a0will also be a strong contender. Trained by\u00a0Kenny McPeek<\/strong>, she seeks to follow in the footsteps of last year\u2019s Coaching Club American Oaks winner\u00a0Thorpedo Anna<\/strong>\u00a0(Fast Anna), another undefeated champion under McPeek\u2019s care. Take Charge Milady comes off her narrow victory over Immersive in the Monomoy Girl and will be ridden by\u00a0Kendrick Carmouche<\/strong>\u00a0from post 4. Winner of the\u00a0Martha Washington Stakes (L)<\/strong>\u00a0in January, she has three wins and two seconds from eight starts and was a $60,000 purchase by\u00a0James Ball<\/strong>,\u00a0Magdalena Racing<\/strong>, and\u00a0Kenneth Rhodes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Another filly on the rise is\u00a0Sweet Seraphine<\/strong>, trained by\u00a0Cherie DeVaux<\/strong>\u00a0for\u00a0Stonehaven Steadings<\/strong>. The daughter of\u00a0Quality Road<\/strong>\u00a0will break from post 2 under\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Ortiz<\/strong>\u00a0after winning the\u00a0Wilton Stakes (L)<\/strong>\u00a0at Belmont by a nose. Prior to that, she broke her maiden in her second start of the year following a layoff of more than nine months. \u201cShe\u2019s well-bred and we know she needs to keep improving to be competitive at this level, but if she can hit the board, we\u2019ll be very happy,\u201d DeVaux said.<\/p>\n

Completing the field is\u00a0Dry Powder<\/strong>, trained by\u00a0Chad Summers<\/strong>. Runner-up in the Wilton, the daughter of\u00a0Gun Runner<\/strong>\u00a0will have\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Lezcano<\/strong>\u00a0aboard from gate 5. A $525,000 Keeneland purchase for\u00a0Gold Square<\/strong>, she debuted a winner and has since recorded two stakes placings, always showing good action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Losing Her Undefeated Record in Her Return, Godolphin\u2019s Champion Faces La Cara, Fresh off a Stunning Win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-276494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114883689436824397","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}