Appalachian draws field of eight

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A field of eight 3-year-old fillies has been entered for the $100,000 Appalachian Stakes on Thursday, with Check the Label and Orchestrator two of the obvious contenders in the one-mile turf race.

The Thursday card also includes a $67,000 classified allowance that drew Hooh Why, winner of the 2009 Ashland Stakes.

The Appalachian is the first of five stakes here this week. It will be followed by the Doubledogdare on Friday, the Lexington and Giant's Causeway on Saturday, and the Ben Ali on Sunday.

Sheppard comebackers fall short

The narrow defeat for Fantasia in the Sunday feature meant that all three highly regarded Jonathan Sheppard returnees were defeated last week at low odds, although all of them stand to benefit from the races.

Fantasia lost by a neck Sunday to Keertana in a $65,000 turf allowance that the winning trainer, Tom Proctor, said was "so tough it should've been a stake." Fantasia was making her first start of the year, which was also the case for the other Sheppard trainees, Informed Decision (third in the Madison) and Forever Together (second in the Jenny Wiley).

* There are no jackpot carryovers into the Wednesday card after both the pick six and super high five were taken down Sunday when Helicopter barely held on to win the ninth race as an odds-on favorite over 32-1 shot Cursesandblessings.