OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Gerald Aschinger has two solid contenders in the featured eighth race Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs – one he knows extremely well and another with whom he’s still getting acquainted. Aschinger will start Lots o’ Lex and Emerald Pond in the no-conditions, $27,500 allowance, which covers 1 1/16 miles on the turf course. The race, which includes an optional $100,000 claiming condition, drew a field of 10 fillies and mares and serves as a prep for the Grade 3 Endeavour Stakes here Feb. 11. That $150,000 stakes race is likely to feature 2016 Endeavour winner Tepin, the favorite to win an Eclipse Award as the top older female turf runner for the second straight year when the 2016 Eclipse Awards are handed out later this month. Lots o’ Lex set the pace in the 2015 Endeavour and finished a close third. She skipped the race last year but earned her first stakes victory last September in the $144,855 One Dreamer at Kentucky Downs. Most recently, Lots o’ Lex set the pace in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 19 and finished third in that 1 1/8-mile race. Aschinger said the slight cutback in distance for Sunday’s race should benefit the front-runner. “I think it will help her,” he said. “She’s a mare that likes to run on the pace, and if she gets a good start and gets on the pace, I look for her to do well. She’s been training really well.” Emerald Pond joined Aschinger’s barn about five weeks ago after getting four wins and three runner-up finishes in 2016 for trainers Chad Brown and Steve Asmussen, including a second-place finish in the $79,500 Ricks Memorial in September at Remington Park. “Emerald Pond is somewhat of a question mark for us because we haven’t had her long,” Aschinger said. “She’s really taken to the course here. She’s taken to the warm weather. She’s gained a little bit of weight, which she needed to do early on, and she’s training very forward. It’s a step up for her, but we expect her to apply herself.” KEY CONTENDERS (Race 8) Lots o’ Lex, by Kitalpha Last 3 Beyers: 89-26-89 ◗ The bullet five-furlong workout in 1:00.60 on Dec. 30 adds to her appeal. Light In Paris, by Aussie Rules Last 3 Beyers: 88-92-76 ◗ Trained by Brown, this Irish mare made only one start last year, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Suwannee River at Gulfstream Park in February, but has been training steadily at Palm Meadows for her return. Wapi, by Scat Daddy North American debut ◗ A Group 1 stakes winner in her native Chile, she makes her first start for proficient turf trainer Tom Proctor and has turned in six breezes here for her first start since last January. Proctor and jockey Ronnie Allen Jr. have teamed up to win 10 of 31 starts here since the start of 2016 for a healthy $2.46 return on investment.