Tuesday, June 06, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Mark Guidry sat atop Lemons Forever with the winner's blanket of lilies draped over the Kentucky Oaks champion. He hopes to be smelling roses Saturday. Lemons Forever, a 47-1 long shot who trailed by 14 lengths down the backside, staged the biggest upset in the Oaks' 132-year history Friday, winning by 1� lengths. "This is big-time," exclaimed winning trainer Dallas Stewart. Indeed. Lemons Forever covered 1 1-8 miles in 1:50.07 and paid $96.20, $37 and $18 as the longest shot in the $685,900 race. The previous highest winning odds were 40-1 on Lemco in 1903. "Anybody knows you got your ups and your downs," Guidry said, "but right now we're on an up and I'm very grateful." Guidry has a chance to pull off the first Oaks-Derby double since jockey Jerry Bailey did in 1993. The two-day wager rewards bettors who correctly select the winners of both races. Guidry will ride Sharp Humor in Saturday's Derby. If they win, the double would trigger a probable payout of $2,755.80. "You can't count us out until the race is over," he said. "Then I'll say we got beat." Balance, the 8-5 wagering favorite in the Kentucky Derby eve race for fillies, finished 11th, disappointing her backers among the crowd of 108,065 -- second-largest in Oaks history. Ermine returned $11.20 and $7.80 at 10-1 odds. Bushfire was disqualified from third and placed sixth for interfering with Red Cherries Spin near the wire. Wait a While was moved up to third and paid $6.40, while Wonder Lady Anne was fourth. The $2 trifecta paid $12,186.60. Lemons Forever broke slowly out of the gate and was 14 lengths behind pacesetter Miss Norman after a half-mile. "I didn't think I'd be that far back going into the first turn," said Guidry, who was riding the filly for the first time in a race. "I just took my time and gave her an opportunity to run her best and she proved the best." Stewart also co-owns Lemons Forever. He is a former protege of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, whose Ex Caelis was last in the full field of 14 fillies. "I've won a lot of good races and I'm lucky to have great owners, but this is the ultimate," said Stewart, who opened his own stable in 1997. Stewart's accent belies his New Orleans roots. He was affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which left his relatives widely scattered as they tried to recover. "It was difficult but we were blessed in my family that we all had insurance and everything went well," he said. "We stuck together and we helped each other. It was a little tough being spread out in three places."

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