Last year's GI Kentucky Oaks victress Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) got her 2026 campaign off to a winning start with a stylish victory in the Iowa Distaff Friday night at Prairie Meadows.Winless since her victory in the aforementioned Spring marquee for fillies last season, Good Cheer was off the board in the GI Acorn and GI Cotillion Stakes, but did manage to squeeze in a runner-up effort in the GI Alabama Stakes in between those two starts. She went onto the sidelines after the September Grade I contest at Parx, and returned here as the overwhelming 1-5 favorite.Breaking in good order and content to watch the frontrunner early on through an opening quarter in :23.14, she steadily inched closer to the front after the half-mile marker and briefly matched strides with Queen Azteca (Sharp Azteca) approaching the quarter pole. Clearing that rival entering the lane, Good Cheer pulled away from her competition in hand to win by five lengths. Queen Azteca was a clear second and Popperina (California Chrome) closed the trifecta in third.The victress is a daughter of multiple Grade I winner Wedding Toast (Street Sense), whose elite-level wins both came at Belmont Park in the Ogden Phipps and Beldame Stakes. Good Cheer is a half-sister to Listed winner Ya Hayati (Dubawi {Ire}). Her younger juvenile half-sister by Medaglia d'Oro awaits in the wings as well as a 2026 Nyquist filly. This is the female family of multiple Grade I winner Congaree (Arazi) and his half-brother SW & GISP Sangaree (Awesome Again). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.IOWA DISTAFF S., $98,000, Prairie Meadows, 7-10, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.71, ft.1–GOOD CHEER, 120, f, 4, Medaglia d'Oro–Wedding Toast (MGISW, $1,419,956), by Street Sense. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Luis Saez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 11-8-1-0, $1,948,230. *1/2 to Ya Hayati (Dubawi {Ire}), SW-UAE, $246,924.2–Queen Azteca, 124, f, 4, Sharp Azteca–Princesa Helena, by Palace Malice. ($22,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; 30,000gns 2yo '24 TATGBU; $675,000 RNA 4yo '26 KEEAPR). O-Team Valor International; B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Rodolphe Brisset. $20,000.3–Popperina, 120, m, 6, California Chrome–Blooming, by Graydar. O/B-BlackRidge Stables LLC (KY); T-Ron Moquett. $10,000.Margins: 5, 1HF, 13 1/4. Odds: 0.20, 2.80, 46.30.Also Ran: Starwood, Quiet I'm Not. Scratched: Miss Authentic.The post Kentucky Oaks Victress Good Cheer Kicks Off 2026 with Winning Effort in Iowa Distaff appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.