LEXINGTON, Ky. – La Cara won the first points race toward qualifying for the 2025 Kentucky Oaks, taking the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes last September at Churchill Downs. She nearly bookended the prep season by winning the final points race toward the Oaks, holding off Take Charge Milady by an easy 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland Stakes on Monday at Keeneland.   The Ashland awarded its top finishers points toward the Oaks, which will be held on May 2 back at Churchill Downs, on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale. La Cara has earned points in five different races, and trainer Mark Casse said he is proud of the filly’s consistency and progression.   "I'm proud of that," Casse said. "It's something that I try to do – I try to get them to progress. I'm not so much about the first or second race. It was about this time last year [that] I said, ‘I just shipped this filly to Churchill, I think she's pretty good.’ And that was her." La Cara, a Street Sense filly who races as a homebred for Tracy and Carol Farmer, debuted last May at Churchill Downs and took four tries to win a maiden race before winning the Pocahontas in her fifth career start. She subsequently finished fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. La Cara has been targeting the Ashland – postponed from Friday to Monday along with the rest of what would have been Keeneland’s opening-day card – since the start of this campaign.   “It was great for the Farmers. I wanted this for them,” Casse said. “It must have been about January, I asked them, ‘What do you want to do?’ and they said, ‘We would really like to win the Ashland.’ I said ‘Okay, we’ll come up with a plan to win the Ashland.’”   After La Cara won the Suncoast Stakes on Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs, Casse needed a bridge to create ideal timing into the Ashland. He brought La Cara back relatively quickly and cut her back to a mile for the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes on March 1 at Gulfstream Park, where a not-fully-cranked La Cara finished an unthreatening second.    La Cara immediately showed she was sharper on Monday, as she was well-held by the pony rider in her warmup and broke alertly from post 2 in the field of eight. When California shipper Look Forward, who had to be backed out and reloaded prior to the break, got away a step slow from post 1, La Cara assumed command and claimed the rail. Look Forward recovered and angled outside to track the pace. La Cara set down an opening quarter-mile of 23.19 seconds on a track that had recovered to fast conditions, with only a little moisture, after it was sloppy on Sunday following days of flooding rain. She led by just a half-length through the half in 47.23, but Dylan Davis, who has been aboard the filly in all three starts this year, knew he was sitting on something special.   “Going down the backside, he [Davis] said, ‘This is the horse I rode in Tampa,’” Casse said.   La Cara began to get away near the three-furlong marker. Muhimma, sent away as the favorite, was taking aim on her from second. Behind her, Take Charge Milady was saving ground but had to wait to make her move as the rangy favorite got going.   “Around the second turn, the winner kind of got the jump,” jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. told trainer Kenny McPeek on the track after the race. “I was following [Muhimma], and she didn’t quicken as much as they did, and we just had to kind of wait.”   La Cara cleared the field by better than three lengths in the stretch. Take Charge Milady got loose to make a rail run and was up for second, beaten 1 1/4 lengths while never seriously threatening the winner, who Davis kept encouraging.   “She was looking around a little bit [turning for home], so I just had to stay with her and keep her to task to the wire," Davis said.   The time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:45.10.  La Cara paid $20.16 to win. Take Charge Milady was the dominant winner of the Martha Washington Stakes two starts back, but she came in to the Ashland off some hiccups at Oaklawn Park, finishing a troubled 10th in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes on Feb. 23, then scratching from the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes a little more than a week ago. The 50 points she earned for finishing second Monday places her safely in the Oaks field, and McPeek, who won the filly classic last year with Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, saw enough to encourage him to move forward.   “This filly seems to be going in the right direction. That last race was a bit of a head-scratcher,” McPeek said. “Glad to have Brian on her. I think we’re finally getting her as good as we can get.”   Muhimma was another 3 1/4 lengths back in third after also finishing third in the Honeybee. That has proven a key race, as top two Quietside and Five G both won graded stakes on March 29. Muhimma is 12th on the Oaks points list, but trainer Brad Cox said moving on will be “a big question mark” that he will discuss with owner Shadwell.    “I thought she got a good trip and just had no answer for the winner turning for home, and just couldn’t get to her,” Cox said.   After Muhumma, it was another 3 1/4 lengths back to Supa Speed in fourth, followed by Amarth, Look Forward, Admit, and Running Away. None have the points to make the current projected starting gate for the Oaks, which is limited to a field of 14 plus four also-eligibles on the program when the race is drawn April 26.   :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? 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