Alpha is a formidable presence in Withers

Alpha registered a career-best 100 BRIS Speed rating last time and the son of

Bernardini will keep Ramon Dominguez in the saddle.

King Kid posted a two-length debut score at Churchill Downs in late November

and turned in a respectable third-place effort when making his second

career outing in the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Derby. Trained by Dale Romans,

the Lemon Drop Kid colt has shipped in from South Florida for his graded bow and

will pick up the services of Mike Luzzi.

Swag Daddy has captured his last two

outings over the inner track, winning both the Restrainor Stakes and Damon

Runyon Stakes for state-breds at two turns, and the dark bay colt hails from the

barn of Richard Dutrow, who is winning at a 41 percent clip this meet

(36-for-87). Junior Alvarado retains the mount.

A pair of recent allowance winners at Laurel Park, Hakama and Tiger Walk,

will each make their first stakes appearance in the Withers.

How Do I Win and

Speightscity, the respective fourth- and fifth-place finishers in the Count

Fleet, round out the line-up.

The Big A will also offer the Grade 3, $150,000

Toboggan Stakes

and the

$100,000 Correction Stakes

on Saturday's program.

Calibrachoa figures to go heavily favored while making a title defense in the

six-furlong Toboggan. Claimed for $40,000 by Repole Stable in November 2010, the

five-year-old horse posted a trio of Grade 3 victories last year for Todd

Pletcher and will be making his first start Saturday since a respectable third

in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap. Cornelio Velasquez rides. Candyman E will

bring a four-race win streak into the Toboggan, garnering the October 22 Frank

J. DeFrancis Memorial Dash most recently, and Grade 3 victor J J's Lucky Train

is also part of the eight-horse line-up.

The six-furlong Correction will feature a field of seven mares, and Grade 2

Distaff Handicap winner Nicole H will be the one to beat. The Michael Hushion

trainee exits a neck score in the Interborough Stakes on New Year's Day.