Marcus Hersh

Opening odds in the upcoming 14-horse G3 Pucker Up, for 3-year-old turf fillies, has Marketing Mix the 6-5 favorite. She won't go off at a price that low, but she figured to be the chalk off a good-looking victory over Ontario-breds last out at Woodbine in the $250K Wonder Where S. Summer Savory, the 3-1 morning-line choice, opened at 8-1, and though she'll go down in price in coming minutes, it would not surprise me if she didn't even get bet down to 2nd choice.

Tajaaweed might actually have run a competitive race in the Arlington Million had the sky not opened earlier in the afternoon. The admirable 6yo horse just can't show his best on wet turf, and he spun his wheels for the second straight Million. His previous race had produced a good closing win in the Arlington Handicap, and bettors looked past the modest 87 speed figure in that race and, wisely, made Tajaaweed a 4-5 favorite in race 7, a high-end 9-furlong turf allowance with a $100K claiming optoin.

The big news coming out of today's Arlington program: A horse trained by Jim DiVito finished second. That was Silky Sami in race 4, and she ended a streak of four straight winners sent out by DiVito, including 2yo filly Blue Forty, who had cruised to an easy win, making her 2-2, in the previous race. But the DiVito barn quickly picked itself up, dusted itself off, and won race 7, an N2X alw. / $40K claiming turf sprint with Tellme All Aboutit. DiVito's record with his last six starters here? That would be five wins, one second. Over the last week, he's gone 6-11.

It's kind of humid, close to 80 degrees, cloudy, chance of rain, but I'd not expect much, if any, precipitation the rest of this card. The Polytrack is producing times in about an average range. For Polytrack. Which means a really fast horse would crack 1:12 for six furlongs. I see no evidence of any kind of bias -- inside or outside, front or back. Forty-five minutes till the Arl - Wash Lassie, the first of two G3s for 2yos on the program.

Trainer Jim DiVito has live contenders in the Arlington-Washington Lassie and Arlington-Washington Futurity tomorrow, but DiVito is not waiting for Saturday to start rolling. Sunshine Express, under crafty piloting by E.T. Baird, just won race 6 on Friday at Arlington, giving DiVito three winners on the program. DiVito scored in the opener, a $10K Poly-sprint claimer, with bet-down Xpectation, then took race 2, a $40K 2yo maiden-claimer, with Silver Menace, who absolutely romped.