Charles Town: Blushing B.J. needs return to top form

Although the main conditions for Tuesday night’s co-featured sixth race allowance at Charles Town state the race is restricted to fillies and mares who have never won two races, a pair of 4-year-old fillies own five victories apiece and four others in the eight-horse field have three wins apiece.

All are eligible because wins recorded against West Virginia-bred company don’t affect eligibility for Tuesday’s $26,000, 6 1/2-furlong race.

So five-time winner Blushing B.J. fits even though she won a $50,000 stakes in August 2011 and followed up by finishing second in the Maryland Millions Oaks at Laurel Park.

Blushing B.J.’s form is hard to gauge. She won by a neck as the 4-5 favorite in a slowly run race at this same level in April and improved her Beyer Speed Figure from 58 to 64 finishing second in a subsequent start in May. But her only two races since then were sub-par.

She was badly beaten when ambitiously spotted in the $225,000 Cavada, then was wide throughout a 6 1/2-furlong nonwinners-of-two allowance on Nov. 13.

Third time back from a layoff has been a strong category for trainer Tim Grams, who is 19 for 84 (23 percent) in that category the past five years.

The logical horse to beat if she runs back to her last race is Princess Aly, who has 3 wins and 4 seconds in 9 starts. Stretched out beyond 4 1/2 furlongs for the first time, Princess Aly responded with a front-running 10-length score against West Virginia-bred nonwinners of three lifetime. Her 70 Beyer was 13 points higher than any of her previous eight starts.

In the allowance ranks among last-out winners, leading trainer Jeff Runco shows a 7-for-29 record (24 percent) with fillies and mares returning after a break of 31 to 60 days in a sprint.

Soul Queen, the other five-time winner in the field, easily defeated entry-level allowance company in May, then got a vacation, thanks to two dull follow-up races. She will be making her first start since July for a trainer, Ernest Hayes, who is just 4 for 30 (13 percent) with 61-to-180-day layoff types.

◗ Lucy’s Bob Boy, winner of the $450,000 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic two starts ago, towers over his five opponents in the co-featured eighth race, a nonwinners-of-two allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs. Lucy’s Bob Boy scratched from Saturday’s $125,000 City of Laurel to run in this spot.