Woodbine-based fillies square off in Alabama

CARELESS JEWEL (Tapit) won two races at Woodbine by a combined 10 3/4 lengths, yet her entry into the Delaware Oaks

(G2) on July 18 didn't

raise much interest. When she won with ease by 7 1/2 lengths, plenty of people took

notice. MILWAUKEE APPEAL (Milwaukee Brew) won the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks in June with such command

that

trainer Scott Fairlie decided to race her two weeks later against males in the

prestigious

$1 million Queen's Plate and then the $500,000 Prince of Wales after that. She

wound up

beaten by only a neck and a nose, respectively, in the two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown.

The two runners now head south of the border to Saratoga to meet

six others

Saturday in the 129th running of the $600,000

Alabama

S. (G1) going 1 1/4 miles.

An afterthought in Delaware last month, Careless Jewel enters

the Alabama as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for trainer Josie Carroll. A winner of three of four starts, with the lone loss coming in her

April 5 debut at

Keeneland,

Careless Jewel has turned into a dominating front runner her past two starts and

will be trying a distance farther than 1 1/16 miles for the first time in the

Alabama.

"You know, obviously, never having gone it... is a big unknown for her,"

Carroll said.

"When we first stepped up from sprinting to go a mile and a sixteenth, we

thought this

filly would stretch out. She proved herself then, and now it's just kind of

another test, really. Until she does it, we don't know for sure.

"It's time for this filly to step up," Carroll added. "If she has to face

Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro),

obviously, not what we want at this stage. But, you know if she's going to be a

good

horse, she's got to be tested."

Milwaukee Appeal

already is proven at the distance, having run big races in the 1 1/4-mile Queen's

Plate and 1

3/16-mile Prince of Wales. She already has made 11 career starts and the nose

loss at

Fort Erie proved she could handle dirt.

"The thing that impressed me the most is the way she came out of those

races," said

Fairlie, who, like Carroll, is based at Woodbine. "Our main objective was the

Woodbine

Oaks. Then, coming back in two weeks, I couldn't believe how tough she was. She

ran

her race in the Prince of Wales. Running on the dirt was never a concern."

Of the loss in the Prince of Wales, Fairlie added, "It was a 10-minute photo.

It was

probably the worst beat I've had."

The top four finishers from the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) -- FUNNY

MOON (Malibu Moon),

DON'T FORGET GIL (Kafwain), WYNNING RIDE (Candy Ride [Arg]) and CASANOVA MOVE

(Langfuhr) -- all will run in the Alabama. The Christophe Clement-trained Funny

Moon, winner of the CCA Oaks, is the second choice on the

morning

line at 4-1.

Don't Forget Gil, who went off at 15-1 in the Coaching Club, was in traffic until the

sixteenth

pole in the July 25 race at Belmont Park and was moving fast at the end to

finish second. According to conditioner Mark Hennig, the dark bay lass relishes

the longer distances.

"She seems like she's turned it up a notch over the summer and she

relishes the extra ground," Hennig said. "I would definitely fear her. It will be competitive;

every Grade

1 is."

Rounding out the field are BE FAIR (Exchange Rate), who posted a four-length,

front-running score in the off-the-turf Lake George S. (G3), and 20-1

morning-line long shot

SWEET AND FLAWLESS (Unbridled's Song), second in the Arlington Oaks (G3) after a

late

charge from last place.