HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Denim and Pearls will be looking to nail down some Kentucky Oaks points on Saturday when she starts as the probable favorite in the $250,000 Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies will offer its first five finishers points on a scale of 20-10-6-4-2. The race is part of the annual Southwest Stakes Day card featuring four stakes on a 12-race program that begins at 11:30 a.m. Central. The stakes, which will form a pick four on races 8-11, were originally scheduled to be run Jan. 27, but the impact of a winter storm led Oaklawn officials to move the date for the card to Saturday. Denim and Pearls faces eight others in the Martha Washington, a race her trainer, Brad Cox, has won two of the last four years. She enters off a runner-up finish in the Year’s End run Dec. 31 at Oaklawn. Denim and Pearls was beaten just three-quarters of a length by a more seasoned stakes winner in Ice Cold. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “She ran well,” Cox said. “She kind of maybe got lost a little bit when she hit the front turning for home. She didn’t give in – obviously a good filly got the jump on her. Hopefully, she got something out of it. It was her first two-turn test.” Denim and Pearls is now 2 for 3, having won her maiden and a first-level allowance in her first two starts in Kentucky. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 81 for her Year’s End, which is the best last-race number in the Martha Washington. She’s also bred to be a runner as a daughter of the top class sire Into Mischief and a full sister to Grade 3 winner Newgate. “She’s a young filly that physically is beautiful, has a nice pedigree,” Cox said. “We probably weren’t really intending on running in this race, but we got the extra week with it being delayed and that kind of made it a little bit more appealing. So, we will see what we can get done.” Denim and Pearls, who is based at Fair Grounds, will break from post 8 under Florent Geroux. Cox also sends out In Good Taste, who is coming off a maiden special weight win at a mile Dec. 8 at Oaklawn. For the effort, she earned a Beyer of 79. “She had a little bit of disruption in her training schedule with the missed days, but did have a decent work the other day and it seems like she’s doing well,” Cox said. “It’s always a big ask when you go from a maiden race to a stakes, but I think she looks competitive in there.” Martin Chuan has the mount from post 9. Tapit Jenallie is proven class as the field’s lone stakes winner, having captured the My Trusty Cat around two turns in November at Delta Downs. Saratoga Secret is moving to two turns for the first time, and trainer D. Wayne Lukas has said more distance has been the goal for the Grade 3-placed daughter of Arrogate. Skelly goes in King Cotton Get out and go. That’s been the M.O. with Skelly, and he figures to employ those same tactics Saturday when he attempts to win his seventh race in a row in the $150,000 King Cotton. “He runs hard and fast, gate to wire,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. The King Cotton is a six-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up, and the field of eight includes fellow Grade 3 winners Ryvit, Tejano Twist, Jaxon Traveler, and Miles Ahead. Skelly will break outside of them all from post 8, under regular rider Ricardo Santana Jr. Skelly, who is 5 for 7 at Oaklawn, started his streak last meet in a first-level allowance in February. He proceeded to win a second-level allowance, the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, and the Lake Hamilton before going to Lone Star Park and capturing the Speightstown in May. Skelly returned to complete his 4-year-old season Dec. 30, with an allowance win at Oaklawn. “He getting easier with time,” Asmussen said. “He’s always been a very tough individual [to handle] and he continues to be. But obviously, [we’re] working through it. “He’s the ultimate racehorse. He’s tough and fast and gritty. A really nice horse.” Skelly is a son of Practical Joke who races for Red Lane Thoroughbreds. Miles Ahead enters off a career-best effort in the Thanksgiving Classic at Fair Grounds, a six-furlong race he won in a super quick 1:08.49. For the effort, he earned a Beyer of 104. Since the start, a pair of horses Miles Ahead defeated have returned to win allowance races, one at Oaklawn and the other at Fair Grounds. Joe Talamo has the mount from post 6 for Jay Em Ess Stable and trainer Paul McGee. Jaxon Traveler won the Zia Park Sprint in his last start, covering six furlongs in a super brisk 1:07.37. Joel Rosario has the mount for Asmussen. ‘Starr’ tries American Beauty Alva Starr will launch her 4-year-old season against a sharp High Class in the $150,000 American Beauty. The six-furlong race is for fillies and mares, and the field of nine also includes the promising Royal Spa. Alva Starr made a splash in September when the quick filly parlayed a dominant stakes win at Delaware Park into a Grade 2 victory at Saratoga in the Prioress. “She came off the Delaware race really good, just came into the race at Saratoga without missing a beat,’ trainer Brett Brinkman said. “She just really didn’t have a bad day going to it and just exhibited who she is – she’s fast. She put forth an effort that wasn’t surprising, but it was still wowing. Even for us.” Alva Starr has made one start since, and finished a close second in the Grade 2 Raven Run in October at Keeneland. She set the pace and was beaten a half-length by Vahva, earning a career-high Beyer of 100. “We got caught by a drying-out racetrack a little bit that sure didn’t play to her attributes,” Brinkman said. “Take nothing away from Vahva. She ran an excellent race. We were disappointed in not winning, but not disappointed in our horse.” High Class is coming off a win in the $150,000 Poinsettia at Oaklawn. “She’s put three races together in a row that are really nice,” Asmussen said. High Class began her streak winning back-to-back allowances at Churchill. Royal Spa exits a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.