Friday Stakes Advance – $150,000 American Beauty Stakes

Stakes Advance – $150,000 American Beauty Stakes
Compiled by Robert Yates

Contact: Chris Ho Vice President of Marketing

cho@oaklawn.com, 501-623-4411 ext. 4201

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026

Another starter from the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) is scheduled to make her 2026 debut at Oaklawn.

Majestic Oops is the 8-5 program favorite for Friday’s $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older fillies and mares at six furlongs. Probable post time for the American Beauty, the eighth of 10 races, is 4:07 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:30 p.m.

The American Beauty was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 6, then shifted to Feb. 7 after Oaklawn lost three racing dates (Jan. 30, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1) to a winter storm late last month. The American Beauty didn’t have sufficient entries to be run Feb. 7 and was brought back as an “extra” Friday.

Majestic Oops will be running six days after champion Nitrogen made her Oaklawn and 4-year-old debut in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Nitrogen was making her first start since a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at 1 1/8 miles Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Majestic Oops launches her 6-year-old campaign in the American Beauty after finishing ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in her last start.

“She got a well-deserved break after the Breeders’ Cup, freshened her up and brought her back here,” said Dan Ward, who trains Majestic Oops for Medallion Racing, Evan Trommer, Agave Racing Stable and Sheila Regan. “They decided to try to run her another year and get one graded stakes win. Proven good form here and good form around one turn.”

Majestic Oops won two races last season at Oaklawn, an entry-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles and the $200,000 Dig A Diamond Stakes at one mile. Both races were in April. The Dig A Diamond was the first career Oaklawn stakes victory for Ward, a longtime assistant under Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer before going out on his own in the summer of 2023.

In her last two starts around one turn, Majestic Oops finished second in starter-allowance company in January 2025 at Oaklawn and third behind Hope Road and Scylla in the Ballerina Stakes (G1) at seven furlongs last August at Saratoga. Hope Road returned to run third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). Scylla won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff later on the card.

Majestic Oops has a 7-11-4 record from 33 lifetime starts and earnings of $636,559. Her only other stakes victory came in the Lady’s Secret at 1 1/16 miles June 14 at Monmouth Park.

“Her best distance is probably a mile,” Ward said. “She’s won at a mile and a sixteenth, but I think that pushes her.”

Majestic Oops is scheduled to break from post 5 in the American Beauty under Francisco Arrieta. Tapit Quick, Asternia, Benedetta, Gloriette and Velvet Devil complete the six-horse field.

Benedetta (2-1) and Asternia (9-2) are already Oaklawn stakes winners at six furlongs. Asternia won the $200,000 Purple Martin for 3-year-old fillies in 2024 for trainer Randy Morse. Benedetta captured the $150,000 American Beauty in 2025 for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.