As Belmont Park readied for its summer hiatus, Spoken Fur provided one last exclamation point to the spring race meeting that belonged to trainer Bobby Frankel and jockey Jerry Bailey, gliding home the winner of the Coaching Club American Oaks.

Racing once around the Belmont Park oval, she bided her time for half the race while Shapes and Shadows set a quick pace. When Bailey asked her to make her move, she responded willingly, easily following the leader's other pursuer, Yell, ridden by John Velazquez.

By the time they reached the top of the stretch run, the outcome was not in doubt. Opening her lead from two lengths to eight by mid-stretch, she relaxed the rest of the way, crossing the wire with plenty of room to spare, Bailey sitting quiet, his whip turned down. Fircroft and Savedbythelight, never a threat to her victory, followed her across the line.

The Oaks is a counterpart to the Belmont Stakes, run at the same distance and at the same track. The two races are the only ones of such significance in America that are run that far on dirt. Where the Belmont is restricted to all 3-year-olds, the Oaks is further restricted to 3-year-old fillies. It now comprises the middle leg of the Triple Tiara, a three-race challenge for those fillies.

Spoken Fur, who needed five tries at the start of her racing career before winning her first race this past April, had never run in a stakes race before tackling the best of her class in the first leg of the Tiara, the Mother Goose, also at Belmont. She won that race as easily as she won this one, coasting home well in front.

She now sits at the head of her class. Her focus, along with that of Bailey and Frankel, turns north to Saratoga where they run the last leg of this important series, the Alabama Stakes, on Aug. 16. A win there would yield a $2 million bonus, racing immortality and the likelihood that she will some day join her trainer and jockey in the Racing Hall of Fame.

Speaking of stakes races, those are classified according to the quality of the horses that run in them. The highest quality races, like the Mother Goose, Coaching Club and Alabama, are classified Grade 1. At Belmont Park they have run nine such stakes in the last 10 weeks. Six of those races, including the two wins by Spoken Fur and the Belmont Stakes won by Empire Maker, were won by horses that were both trained by Frankel and ridden by Bailey. It's been a Hall of Fame year for two Hall of Fame members.

While Belmont Park is quiet in the afternoon over the next six weeks, horses that have made a mark here in the last 10 are likely to race at Saratoga and elsewhere before returning for the championship-making races in autumn.

Sightseek will get things going for the Frankel-Bailey juggernaut this Sunday in the Go For Wand. Volponi may take on four horses that have most recently spent time in California, the males Medaglia d'Oro, Milwaukee Brew and Harlan's Holiday, and, most importantly, the reigning Horse of the Year, Azeri, a mare.

That would be a girl versus boys match-up in the Aug. 2 Whitney Handicap with 2003 Horse of the Year implications. If that is not the feature race of the Saratoga season, the Travers Stakes a week after the Alabama will be.

While the eyes of all the best 3-year-olds will be on the winner's circle, the eyes of all in attendance will be on Empire Maker and Funny Cide as they renew their rivalry. And, as is always the case at Saratoga, 2-year-olds never before heard from will score their first victories before returning to Belmont Park for championship racing in September and October.