Bourbonette Oaks

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Eight sophomore fillies will go postward in the $150,000 Bourbonette Oaks S.

(G3) on the Polytrack at Turfway Park on Saturday. CLEARLY FOXY (Volponi) ran a

decent sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) when last seen for

trainer Mark Casse, and we'll give the Canadian Grade 3-winning filly a shot in here in

her synthetic debut. The bay miss began her career with a smart tally in a turf

sprint, and followed that effort with a 3 1/2-length romp in the Natalma S.

(Can-G3), and either of those efforts would give her a chance with this bunch.

She has been training well over synthetic in advance of this and should get

first run on the deep closers with a good ride from Patrick Husbands.

A TO THE CROFT (Menifee) had a fine juvenile campaign in which she finished

second in the Alcibiades S. (G1), Spinaway S. (G1) and Adirondack S. (G2) for

trainer Ken McPeek, prior to registering a ninth-place effort in the Juvenile

Fillies. The talented chestnut has been working steadily in advance of her

sophomore bow, and will remove the blinkers that she was equipped with in her

Breeders' Cup debacle. The lass has an affinity for minor awards and could be a

bit short off the layoff, so we'll keep her in second under Robby Albarado.

MORAKAMI (Fusaichi Pegasus) has finished fourth or fifth in a quartet of

graded starts for Rusty Arnold, and looks poised to add a graded placing to her

resume in this affair. The dark bay sophomore did not run her best last out in

the sloppy Forward Gal S. (G2) and is a question mark over the Polytrack

surface, but she has some class and this distance should be ideal for her

running style. Edgar Prado will pilot the exotics hopeful.

MAREN'S MEADOW (Meadowlake) was second in a division of the Martha

Washington S. at Oaklawn last out and will start on something other than dirt

for the initial time for Larry Jones. The bay Canadian-bred has flashed good

ability on more than one occasion and could get a piece of the pie with her

best, if she handles this footing.

VALENTINE FEVER (Stormin Fever), LOVE BUZZ (Silver Charm) and LOVERS SPAT

(Yankee Gentleman), the one-two-three finishers of the recent Valdale S., are

hard to separate in here, and each would need better than they have shown

thus far to win this. Any of the trio would be a mild surprise in the least in

the winner's circle.

DOWNTOWN DRIFTER (Devil His Due) was a clear second in a recent allowance

race and improved nicely in her two-turn debut, but it's hard to back her in a

field like this.