Ashland also-rans look to rebound in Edgewood

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Those looking for an indication of the potential strength of Ashland Stakes competitors Rosalind and Thank You Marylou in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs could get a barometer two races before the Oaks in the $150,000 Edgewood.

The top three choices on the track’s morning line – 5-2 Candy Kitty, 3-1 Resistivity, and 7-2 Istanford – were distant finishers in the Ashland, all losing by more than 20 lengths. So, if they bounce back with quality performances in the Edgewood, it would validate the form of the Ashland.

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Candy Kitty, Resistivity, and Istanford are facing a talented but lesser group in the ungraded Edgewood, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, with their principal rivals being Granny Mc’s Kitten, A Little Bit Sassy, and French invader Little Journey.

The Ashland trio should benefit from the return to turf, a surface on which they all are winners, and where Candy Kitty is a stakes winner. They all had the excuse of perhaps disliking the Polytrack surface at Keeneland in the Ashland.

Istanford and Resistivity also had another excuse: being involved in a furious pace – splits of 22.96 seconds, 45.90, and 1:10.83 – easily the fastest main-track route fractions of the Keeneland meet.

Given how both tired in the Ashland – with Istanford running 11th, beaten 31 lengths, and Resistivity fading to 10th, beaten 25 lengths – their connections probably will seek to avoid another duel with their fillies.

Resistivity, drawn outside in post 10 and with the patient Julien Leparoux replacing Stewart Elliott in the saddle, seems the more likely to be rated.