'TDN Rising Star' Elate (Medaglia d'Oro) looks primed for a breakout performance in Saturday's GI Central Bank Ashland S. at Keeneland. The runaway debut winner has hit the board in a pair of stakes attempts since, including a rallying third after racing far back early in the GIII Honeybee S. at Oaklawn Mar. 11.
“I just hope we get out of the gate good,” Claiborne's Walker Hancock said. “We kinda got slammed leaving the gate in Arkansas and kinda threw her off her game. She didn't really get into the race until the end when it was too late. I hope she breaks well and we'll be in a good spot.”
Daddys Lil Darling (Scat Daddy), runner-up in Keeneland's GI Darley Alcibiades S. last fall, gets the morning-line nod at 5-2. The 2016 GII Pocahontas S. heroine prepped for this with a sixth-place finish in the grassy GIII Florida Oaks at Tampa Mar. 11.
Trainer Mark Casse will be represented by last summer's dead-heat GI Spinaway S. heroine Pretty City Dancer (Tapit) and GII Davona Dale S. third Summer Luck (Lookin At Lucky).
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