Omaha Beach Fillies Headline Honeybee Stakes Field

The $400,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park Feb. 24 may turn into a showcase for one of the leading first-crop sires of 2023.

Omaha Beach , who was fourth among his classmates based on progeny earnings, will be represented by Alys Beach and Neom Beach in the 1 1/16-mile dirt challenge, which features a field of 10 3-year-old fillies looking to gain qualifying points for the division’s most lucrative and prestigious race.

The Honeybee offers points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale toward the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1), which will be contested on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

Alys Beach will be making her seasonal bow, having capped her 2-year-old campaign with top-four finishes in a pair of graded 1 stakes. She hadn’t raced since finishing third in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, which was her only experience at the Honeybee’s distance.

The Tom Amoss trainee also finished fourth last year in the Spinaway Stakes (G1) going 7 furlongs. Coming off a nearly four-month break, it remains to be seen if she can hit the dirt in top form.

In her way might be stakes-placed Neom Beach, who is out of the Giant’s Causeway mare, Giant’s Causey .

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Neom Beach comes into the Honeybee having faded late at the distance on the Oaklawn dirt when finishing a game third in the Martha Washington Stakes Feb. 3.

Besting Neom Beach and all others that day was Band of Gold , who looks for a repeat performance at the Arkansas track. Meanwhile, Brad Cox trainee West Omaha enters off a win in the Silverbulletday Stakes last time out on Jan. 20 while Midshipman’s Dance aims to improve her record to 3-for-3 following her victory in the Mockingbird Stakes on Jan. 13.