03/29/2010 11:00PM

It's main-track time again at the Big A

By David Grening
Email

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It appears as though the seemingly endless winter has, well, finally ended. Torrential rains have replaced heavy snow, green has supplanted brown on most people's lawns in the area, and Aqueduct's main track opens for business with a nine-race card on Wednesday.

There will be only 19 cards on the main track between Wednesday and April 25 before racing moves to Belmont Park on April 30. The switch to the main track also coincides with the scheduled opening of Aqueduct's turf course, on which two races have been carded for each of the first three days of the meet. Wednesday's two grass races, however, are likely to be moved to the dirt after four inches of rain was forecast to fall by Tuesday night.

The move to the 1 1/8-mile main track - with a one-mile chute - allows for a wider variety of distances to be run. Wednesday's feature, the $60,000 Indistinctly for New York-bred fillies and mares, is carded at 7 1/2 furlongs. The distance, combined with the possibility of a contested pace plus the likelihood of a wet track would all seem to favor Sapphire Sky.

All of Sapphire Sky's four victories have come over a wet track, and three of those came at seven furlongs, including the Bouwerie last May at Belmont, which came in the second start off a layoff. The Indistinctly will be Sapphire Sky's second start since Nov. 19. In her first, she finished second, beaten a half-length by Lights Off Annie in the Broadway.

"Seven-eighths to a mile one turn is her best game," said David Donk, trainer of Sapphire Sky. "She's getting back to a distance more suited to her. She ran a very good race last time going three-quarters."

The key to Sapphire Sky's success Wednesday is whether the speedy Ampart Ridge remains in the race. She is coming off two wins in a 15-day span and would be wheeling back on six days' rest for trainer Gary Contessa. She appears to be the only member of the field who could entertain Rightly So on the front end.

Rightly So, who beat Sapphire Sky twice last fall, comes out of a third-place finish in the Broadway after breaking slowly. If allowed to get loose on the lead, she is very dangerous as her 5-for-7 lifetime record would attest.

Sorority Sister, Eager Emma, and What a Pear complete the field.