Barbara Fritchie kicks off Laurel's weekend holiday racing

Trainer Mike Hushion has captured two of the previous six

Barbara Fritchie Handicaps, winning with Golden Dawn (2008) and Harissa (2011).

The Belmont Park-based conditioner is sending last year's runner-up, My Wandy's

Girl, in search of another Grade 2 credit.

The daughter of Flower Alley, a

Puerto Rican import, won her North American debut at Aqueduct in the 2012 Pentelis

before finishing in the money in three graded races -- the Grade 1 Gazelle, Barbara Fritchie and

Grade 2 Ruffian. After a six-month absence, she

returned in December to post a fifth-place finish in the Garland of Roses and

will try to rebound off that contest in the Fritchie under jockey Rajiv

Maragh.

Winning Image is two-for-two thus far at Laurel Park, and on Saturday will

try to make it a perfect three in the Fritchie. The Southern Image mare captured the What

a Summer at

Laurel in her most recent try, adding it to a victory in the 2012 Willa on the

Move. Winning Image has eight stakes wins on

her resume for trainer Michael Oro with earnings of nearly $600,000.

Jockey Tony Black,

who retains the mount after guiding Winning Image to victory in the What a

Summer, said the seven-year-old

mare is as quick as any horse he has ever been aboard.

"It was exciting to hear Tony say that. He actually was

very impressed with her when he worked her one morning and said he had not been

on anything as good as her since 1989," Aro said. "She is one of a kind to me

and is appropriately named. She is determined and likes to win."

John Servis will ship Villette from Parx Racing,

where she's won four of her last five starts. Her best effort was a victory in

the Foxy J. G. last April. The Petionville mare returned from a nine-month

absence to win against optional claiming company on January 14 with Stewart Elliott

aboard.

"She has been a really nice mare since day one," Servis

said. "She was ready to run but we got hit by the quarantine which set us back.

When we finally got a chance to run her last month she was on go. She is going

to be close to the pace but she does not have to be on the lead. She is a nice

filly and she'll give it all she's got."

Larry Murray entered both More Than a Cruise and

Access to Charlie but indicated he will likely be running only the latter in

her final career start. The Indian Charlie mare has already earned a pair of

stakes victories over the track, most recently taking Geisha last November. Julian Pimentel will ride.

Flattering Bea won the Ms. Shenandoah at

Charles Town right out of the maiden ranks and has finished first or second in

seven of her last 10 starts. Her most impressive effort was a surprising near-miss second in the Miss Preakness Stakes last spring at odds of 52-1.

Crystal Pickett trains the four-year-old daughter of Flatter, who will have Sheldon Russell aboard for

the first time.

"She has been the nicest filly to train," Pickett said. "Nothing seems to

bother her. She has a great attitude. She runs her guts out every time so the

key is giving her time off between races. Sheldon came to work her the last two

times and she loves him. I was looking for a patient rider because she loves to

have speed to run at and Sheldon fit the bill. This is certainly a step up in

class but she belongs."

Sunlit City, ninth

in her only stakes try to date in the Safely Kept last November, completes the

field.

One race before the Fritchie, a field of seven older runners will line up in

the John B. Campbell H. The 1 1/8-mile contest

has turned into a rematch of the January 25 Native Dancer, featuring winner Bold

Curlin, runner-up Indian Jones, third-place finisher

Managed Account and fifth-place runner Concealed Identity.

Concealed Identity actually captured the Campbell in 2013 by three parts of a

length but has been unplaced in all but two of his subsequent nine starts.

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