Sugar Swirl heads rescheduled Shirley Jones

Only five of the original seven distaffers will try again in the rescheduled

Shirley Jones H. (G2) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. The $200,000,

seven-furlong test drew a field of six this time around, with top contender

SUGAR SWIRL (Touch Gold) going for her third straight graded win at the current

meet.

The five-year-old mare ended her 2007 campaign with a three-length score in

the Very Subtle S. at Churchill Downs for trainer Bobby Frankel, but reappeared

this year in the barn of Brian Lynch. Sugar Swirl made her 2008 bow in the First

Lady H. (G3) on January 13, winning by 2 1/2 lengths, then dominated five rivals

by 8 3/4 lengths in the Hurricane Bertie H. (G3) a little more than a month

later. She'll be giving away six to nine pounds as the 124-pound highweight in

this one, and will keep Javier Castellano in the irons.

BARONESS THATCHER (Johannesburg) was third to Sugar Swirl's second in last

year's Thoroughbred Club of America S. (G3), and spent much of 2007 knocking

heads with the likes of Grade 1 winners Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy), Panty Raid

(Include) and Dream Rush (Wild Rush). The chestnut lass finished out the year

with a fourth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, and filled that same

spot while making her four-year-old debut last out. She'll get away with only

toting 116 pounds under John Velazquez on Saturday.

MOON CATCHER (Malibu Moon) is the new hopeful in the Shirley Jones. The

Christophe Clement runner captured last year's Delaware Oaks (G2) on the front

end, then proceeded to finish fourth in her next two starts. The bay

four-year-old ended her 2007 season by taking the Maryland Million Oaks, once

again leading throughout. She returns here off a more than five-month break

under Rene Douglas.

The complete field for the Shirley Jones, with riders and weights, is DIXIE

DREAMER (Mutakddim), Eddie Castro, 116; Sugar Swirl, SHAGGY MANE (Bertrando),

Cornelio Velasquez, 116; Moon Catcher, 118; Baroness Thatcher; and FEATHERBED

(Smart Strike), Eibar Coa, 116.