LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -Jerry Hollendorfer didn't need to see Rachel Alexandra overpower the field in last year's Kentucky Oaks to know just how big the filly version of the Kentucky Derby has become.

For Hollendorfer, the proof was in the packed 14-horse starting gate.

``I've ran in the Oaks twice before and we had eight, nine horses in the race,'' said Hollendorfer, who will saddle 6-5 favorite Blind Luck in Friday's Oaks at Churchill Downs. ``The race has really been gaining in stature and more people are paying attention.''

Rachel Alexandra's buzzworthy performance last spring was difficult hard to ignore. She won by a record 20 1/4 lengths to cap a race that doubled as a coronation.

Two weeks later she beat the boys in the Preakness on her way to winning Horse of the Year honors.

``I think (the Oaks) really set the tone,'' Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. ``I think the Oaks almost upstaged the Derby. It was something for the whole racing community can hang their hat on.''

Rachel Alexandra returns to Churchill for an encore in the La Troienne Stakes on Friday before stepping aside to see if any of the current crop of 3-year-old fillies can step out of her considerable shadow.

It won't be easy. The fillies in this year's Oaks 1 1/8-mile Oaks are unlikely to produce the kind of fireworks Rachel Alexandra provided last spring, particularly after filly Devil May Care opted to run in the Derby.

Yet this Oaks is considerably deeper than the shallow pool Rachel Alexandra flattened last spring. There are seven graded stakes winners in the field, led by Blind Luck.

The chestnut filly will start from the fifth post and has won four graded stakes, including the Fantasy Stakes, Oak Leaf and Las Virgenes.

It's a resume fit for a Derby contender. Hollendorfer, however, never considered entering Blind Luck in the Run for the Roses.

``I don't begrudge anyone wanting to a run a horse in the Derby,'' Hollendorfer said. ``But I never considered Blind Luck for the Derby. She's been aimed for the Oaks all year and that never changed with me.''

Besides, winning the Oaks will be hard enough.

Blind Luck has run on the dirt once, though she appeared to be just fine on the surface while winning the Fantasy at Oaklawn Park by 2 1/2 lengths over Tidal Pool.

``It doesn't look like it bothers her,'' he said.

Lukas will aim for his fifth Oaks win with Tidal Pool, a co-second choice at 8-1. Lukas was encouraged by the his filly's game effort in the Fantasy. She led early, faltered at the top of the stretch then dug in for second.

Tidal Pool will have Calvin Borel in the saddle, a bonus at a track that the jockey has owned recently. He won both the Oaks and the Derby last year.

``She ran a huge race against Blind Luck,'' Lukas said. ``She appears to be moving forward.''

Amen Hallelujah gives trainer Rick Dutrow a chance to add an Oaks victory to the Derby he captured two years ago with Big Brown. Amen Hallelujah was a solid second behind Devil May Care in the Bonnie Miss on March 20 and Dutrow is hardly worried about the six-week layoff.

``She's very versatile,'' he said. ``She's won sprinting. She's won going longer. She's won on the (Polytrack). She's won on the dirt. It seems like she can do a lot of things and it seems that she's ready to do it, too.''

Dutrow did little to hide his pleasure in seeing Devil May Care head to the Derby. And trainer Eric Guillot, who will saddle 30-1 long shot Champagne d'Oro, joked he knows why trainer Todd Pletcher pointed his top filly to the Derby.

``The rumor I'm hearing is that Todd Pletcher's scared to run against Champagne and that's why he's entering Devil May Care in the Derby,'' Guillot said. ``And I don't blame him. This is for all the marbles and you don't want to face one that Guillot trains.''