4/24/26 $200,000 Dig a Diamond Stakes
By Robert Yates
$200,000 Dig a Diamond Stakes – Saturday, April 25
Standoutsensation bids for her second stakes victory this season at Oaklawn in Saturday’s one-mile $200,000 Dig a Diamond for older fillies and mares.
Probable post time for the Dig a Diamond, the 10th of 11 races, is 5:46 p.m. CDT. Racing begins at 12:45 p.m.
Standoutsensation will be making her first start for trainer Kinnon LaRose after winning the $150,000 Pippin Stakes Dec. 26 at Oaklawn for his former boss, Tom Amoss, who announced March 16 he was retiring from training. LaRose is inheriting Amoss’ stable.
Amoss is transitioning into an advisory role, with his final scheduled starter (Coastal Breeze) entered in Friday’s eighth race at Oaklawn. Amoss (4,278 career victories) is the 15th-winningest trainer in North American history, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.
LaRose looks to continue his strong start with 2-1 program favorite Standoutsensation. He entered Thursday with a 4-for-21 record in his brief career.
“She’s been super consistent for us for a long time,” LaRose said. “Kind of took her a second to find her stride, but once she got rolling she’s been ultra-consistent. She’s just a hard-knocking filly and happy to have her in the barn.”
Amoss, on behalf of owners Richard J. Emmett and Joel Politi, claimed Standoutsensation for $100,000 out of a maiden victory Nov. 22, 2023, at Churchill Downs. Standoutsensation lost her next 14 starts, but she finished second in half of those races.
“The riders would say the same thing: ‘When she makes the lead, she waits on horses,’” Amoss said. “So, she was a difficult horse to ride. I put Jose Ortiz on her and he’s like: ‘I’ve got the secret to this horse.’ I’m like: ‘Let me in on it, please.’ He told me that her game is absolutely wanting to have a target and then when you go, you can’t go mildly, you’ve got to go all in.”
Standoutsensation has won five of her last eight starts. She recorded her first career stakes victory in the Turnback the Alarm at 1 1/8 miles Nov. 2 at Aqueduct and won the 1 1/16-mile Pippin in her next start.
Standoutsensation has made two starts this year, finishing second, beaten a half-length, in the Sam Houston Ladies Classic (G3) Jan. 24 at Sam Houston Race Park and fourth in the $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 7 at Oaklawn. Both races were 1 1/16 miles.
Standoutsensation is reunited Saturday with jockey Rafael Bejarano, who guided the now-5-year-old daughter of Take Charge Indy to a nine-length allowance victory at one mile last April at Oaklawn. Standoutsensation drew the rail for the Dig a Diamond, which has a field of seven.
“She’s tactical and knows what her job is,” LaRose said. “She always tries to put herself in a forward position, so we’ll try to play the break and go from there.”
Mad About Marie, Queen’s Martini, Ultimate Authority, Pronghorn, Bundle and Runamileinmyshoes are also entered.
Runamileinmyshoes (5-2) exits a front-running 2 ¼-length second-level allowance victory at 1 1/16 miles March 6 for trainer Peter Miller, who entered Thursday with a robust 27-percent win rate at the meeting (18 of 66). Pronghorn (3-1) will be making her stakes debut for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen after a sharp allowance race victory at 1 1/16 miles April 2 in her last start.
Amoss won the 2024 Dig a Diamond with Hoosier Philly.
