Trainer George Weaver offered simple, clear advice to Manny Franco before the jockey's first time aboard Gatsas Stables homebred Five G for the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) March 29 at Gulfstream Park.
"He just told me, 'Ride her with confidence. She has tactical speed, if somebody wants to go and clear you, that's fine, go around. If not, you can go ahead.' And that's what I did," Franco said. Franco replaced injured Tyler Gaffalione, who broke his left ankle in a post-parade mishap earlier this week.
Franco used Weaver's input and decided to become a little aggressive with his filly in the clubhouse turn, where 6-5 favorite Five G made the lead. She then remained in front of five other 3-year-old fillies all the way to capture the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks by 2 1/4 lengths and earn 100 Kentucky Oaks (G1) points. She now holds 125 Kentucky Oaks points after a runner-up finish in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) last out.
Bell Racing's Anna's Promise finished second by 10 1/4 lengths, and Cassiar was third to collect 50 and 25 Kentucky Oaks points, respectively.
Whatintheliteral (15) and Paradise City (10) also earned points by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Five G and Anna's Promise, under Luis Saez, vied for the lead out of the gate, with second choice The Queens M G and Irad Ortiz Jr. also in the mix.
"I thought (Anna's Promise) was the other horse that could clear me, but when I saw he didn't do it and the (The Queens M G) right there with me, I said, 'I'm going to go,'" Franco said. "So that's what I did in the first turn. After that, she was happy and comfortable."
Five G proceeded to set fractions of :23.63, :47.11, and 1:11.19. She dueled Anna's Promise in the far turn before edging clear in the lane.
The bay filly crossed the wire in 1:43.22 and paid $4.60 to win.
"I was pretty happy when they turned up the backside," Weaver said. "She threw her ears up and was relaxed. I felt like she was going to run her race from there."
Weaver admitted it had been "a hard decision" to decide whether to run Saturday in South Florida or ship to Keeneland for the $750,000 Ashland Stakes (G1) April 4.
"We would have a legitimate chance to win in the Ashland, too," Weaver said. "It's a grade 1 and a lot more money. But thinking about the Kentucky Oaks, the placement of this race and being able to stay here and then go to Kentucky just for the Oaks, we just kind of liked that a little better."
Multiple graded stakes winner The Queens M G was pulled up near the quarter pole with an apparent knee injury but walked onto a waiting horse van and was taken from the track. Ortiz was unhurt. The Thousand Words filly, a graded winner at 2 and 3, was scheduled to undergo knee surgery and will be retired, according to a social media post by co-owner C2 Racing Stable.
Bred in New York, Five G is a 3-year-old daughter of Vekoma out of the Quality Road mare Triumphant. She is the lone winner from two foals to race out of her dam, who also has a yearling full sister to Five G.
Vekoma topped all first-crop sires in 2024 and is the clear leader among second-crop sires through the first three months of 2025. He stands for $35,000 at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky.
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