Bottle of Rouge Prevails at Sunland Park, Gains 20 Kentucky Oaks Points

Bottle of Rouge stalked early fractions, swung three-wide into the turn and prevailed by 1 1/2 lengths in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks at Sunland Park, covering the mile in 1:35.82 under jockey Juan J. Hernandez to collect 20 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points and a $147,000 winner’s share. The gray Vino Rosso filly was the 2-5 favorite and returned $2.80 to win.

Cashed set the tempo through splits of :23.85 and :46.80, with Bottle of Rouge tracking in third through the first half-mile before making her decisive move, a trip Bob Baffert put this way: “Third through the first half-mile, she made a three-wide move for the lead going into the final bend. Coming into the stretch, Bottle of Rouge led by a length, then dug in to hold off Touch of Magic in deep stretch.” Touch of Magic, bred to be a late threat, closed boldly to take second and earn $53,900 for owner Three Chimneys Farm; Pashmina finished third.

The race drew a stewards’ inquiry and an objection from Pashmina’s rider, Cristian Torres, after Bottle of Rouge veered in the stretch. BloodHorse recounted the sequence precisely: “In the stretch as Bottle of Rouge pulled away, she veered to the right under Juan Hernandez, impeding the path of Pashmina, resulting in a stewards' inquiry and an objection made by Pashmina's jockey, Cristian Torres. Hernandez straightened the filly out and rode a straight path to the wire. After review, the stewards declared no change to the order of finish.” The official order stood unchanged.

Bottle of Rouge’s victory tightened her standing on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks; the Sunland Park Oaks awards points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. As Bob Baffert noted, “Bottle of Rouge picked up her first 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) Sunday with her 1 ½-length victory in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks,” and “Should she continue on the Kentucky Oaks trail, Bottle of Rouge will need one more points-earning finish to secure her spot on the first Friday in May.”

The filly is a registered Grade 1 winner, having taken the Del Mar Debutante in 2025 before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last Oct. 31 at Del Mar. Bred in Kentucky by Kathie Maybee and produced from Blues Corner (by Bluegrass Cat), Bottle of Rouge has a career line now listed as five starts with three wins and one second and lifetime earnings of $427,000. Sales records included a $60,000 weanling price at the 2023 Keeneland November sale and a $100,000 yearling price at Keeneland September 2024.

The win extended Bob Baffert’s dominance in the Sunland Park Oaks; Baffert now has nine winners of the race, a streak KentuckyDerby.com tied to previous standouts such as Plum Pretty (2011), who went on to win the Kentucky Oaks. Notable also in the stretch mix was Coffee Connection, part of the late-running battle described in race coverage.

One point of record in the supplied charts and reports remains unsettled: the official TDN race chart lists the owner as Natalie Baffert, while the trainer’s release and multiple news accounts refer to Jill Baffert as the owner. The chart lists Bottle of Rouge as carrying 121 pounds, with jockey Juan J. Hernandez in the irons and trainer Bob Baffert credited for the victory.