Photo:

Tommy Land / Eclipse Sportswire

It’s an opportunity for a polite bounce back.

Yes Ma’am, a half-sister to Kentucky Derby 2024 winner Mystik Dan, is scheduled to make her career debut at Oaklawn in Sunday’s seventh race, a six-furlong maiden allowance event that is among the highlights of the track’s third annual program exclusively for 2-year-olds.

Click here for Oaklawn entries and results.

The first post is at 1:30 p.m. EST with the probable time for the seventh race being 4:18 p.m.

Yes Ma’am will run about 72 hours after Mystik Dan finished last of six in his comeback start, the Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs Thursday at Santa Anita.

Yes Ma’am and Mystik Dan are both out of Ma’am, who broke her maiden at the 2016 Oaklawn meet. Ma’am’s trainer Kenny McPeek also conditions Mystik Dan, but Yes Ma’am is trained by John Ortiz.

“Physically, I think they look alike,” Ortiz said, referring to Yes Ma’am and Mystik Dan. “She has a very fiery, forward kind of mentality, so she’s got like a winner’s attitude. Hopefully that transitions to the afternoons. You never know until those gates open in the afternoon.”

Yes Ma’am has eight published workouts since Nov. 2, the last four at Oaklawn. She completed major preparations for her debut with a half-mile gate drill in 48.0 seconds Sunday morning. Ramon Vazquez is named to ride Yes Ma’am, who is 12-1 on the morning line and drawn into post 8.

“She’ll develop into a two-turn horse,” Ortiz said. “She’s shown some talent in the morning.”

Yes Ma’am is a homebred for Lance Gasaway of Star City, Ark., 4G Racing owned by Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway of Little Rock, Ark., and Hot Springs native Banks Hamby.

Gasaway, 4 G and Hamby also bred and race Mystik Dan. Hamby’s younger brother Scott, who races under the Valley View Farm banner, bought an interest in Mystik Dan after his victory in the $800,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) in February at Oaklawn.

Yes Ma’am is by multiple graded-stakes winner Unified. After recommending Ma’am be bred to Goldencents, resulting in Mystik Dan, McPeek steered the ownership group toward Unified, Lance Gasaway said.

“He said from the sales he (worked) he thought he was producing the best-looking babies,” Gasaway said.

Sharilyn Gasaway named the filly. It was 4G’s turn, in the ownership rotation, to name a horse and a trainer to employ. Ortiz and 4G had a prior business relationship, campaigning among others Hollis, who set Oaklawn’s 5 1/2-furlong track record of 1:02.17 in a December 2021 allowance race.

“We sent her to John and John’s dad in Florida,” Sharilyn Gasaway said. “I had originally had a named saved, Universe, because I was hoping it would be a colt. When it was a filly, I was like, crap, now what am I going to name it? I wanted something that had to do with Ma’am and just came up with Yes Ma’am. That’s all the significance I can tell you. Lance loved it, so it was OK.”

Lance Gasaway and Banks Hamby also raced Ma’am.