The Kentucky Oaks runs Friday evening at Churchill Downs as the centerpiece of Derby Eve, a 14-filly affair worth $1.5 million with a post time of 8:40 p.m. Eastern. Last year, Good Cheer entered as a near-lock. This year, the field is wide open. Aragona and Beer come away with the same three horses on their tickets but disagree on who tops them.

Aragona keeps the morning-line favorite, No. 2 Zany, as his win pick. The Todd Pletcher trainee earned a Beyer of 89 winning the Demoiselle as a juvenile and has yet to match it as a sophomore, but Aragona dismisses the idea she has stalled.

"I don't buy that narrative at all," he says of the suggestion she has not improved from 2 to 3.…