Storm’s Wake headlines Old Dominion Oaks
G2 Appalachian winner faces contentious group
Press Release
September 6, 2026
Grade 2 Appalachian Stakes winner Storm’s Wake brings a class edge and bigger goals into the 16th running of the $250,000 Old Dominion Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile turf test for 3-year-old fillies that drew a field of 11.
William Werner’s homebred Storm’s Wake, trained by Brian Lynch, owns the strongest graded-stakes resume in the field after a busy sophomore campaign that has taken her from Gulfstream Park to Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Saratoga. The daughter of Oscar Performance scored her biggest victory this spring in the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland. The Old Dominion Oaks gives her an opportunity to prove herself at 1 1/8 miles ahead of a potential return trip to Lexington for the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.
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“We’re trying to point toward the Queen Elizabeth, so she needs to show us that she can get the mile and an eighth,” Lynch said. “This looks like the ideal group where, if she is what we’re hoping she is, she should be able to get them on her best day.”
Since upsetting the field in the Appalachian, Storm’s Wake finished fifth in the Grade 2 Edgewood at Churchill Downs, returned three weeks later to finish second in the Grade 3 Regret at 1 1/8 miles and most recently was fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks at Saratoga on July 4.
Lynch came away from the Belmont Oaks neither discouraged nor convinced that the race provided a true measure of his late-running filly.
“The pace quickened, then slowed, and then they quickened again, so I didn’t really know what to make of that race,” Lynch said. “I wasn’t disappointed with how she ran. I think it was just a very weirdly run race.”
Storm’s Wake has been given time between starts since the Belmont Oaks, a deliberate move by Lynch aimed at having her at her best later in the season.
“She had been racing since she started as a 2-year-old,” Lynch said. “She’s not a real big filly, so ideally, we were hoping we could have her on top of her game by the time the Queen Elizabeth comes around. Spacing her races was a big part of the plan.”
The freshening appears to have had the desired effect. Lynch has been encouraged by what he has seen from Storm’s Wake while preparing her for the Old Dominion Oaks.
“She’s always been a very honest work horse, and she’s doing really well,” Lynch said. “Her works have been solid, she looks really good, and she looks like she appreciated a little bit of a freshening. I hope we’ve got her as good as we need her to be competitive in this spot.”
Storm’s Wake will start from post 8 with Samuel Marin aboard.
Carded as Race 8, the $250,000 Old Dominion Oaks is part of Colonial Downs’ six-stakes Labor Day program, which offers a combined $1.3 million in purses and is headlined by the Grade 3 $500,000 Old Dominion Derby. The strong supporting lineup includes the $150,000 Colonial Cup at 1½ miles and the 5½-furlong $150,000 Da Hoss, both for 3-year-olds and older, along with a pair of juvenile stakes: the $125,000 Kitten’s Joy at 1 1/16 miles and the $125,000 Exacta Systems Rosie’s Stakes at 5½ furlongs.
First post for Monday’s 11-race program is 12 p.m. ET.
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