BC Countdown - Distaff: 'Two Item' needs every little edge

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Location, location, location. It's everything in real estate. Trainer Steve DiMauro is hoping it makes a difference with Two Item Limit, who will be a longshot in the star-studded, $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff on Oct. 26.

Of the eight older fillies and mares who were expected to be pre-entered in the Distaff, Two Item Limit is the only one currently on the grounds here at Arlington Park. She arrived more than one month ago, and prepped for the Distaff in an overnight stakes race restricted to Illinois-breds, which she won.

"I'm ecstatic as far as [how] she's doing. But I'm not crazy about the group she has to run against," DiMauro said. The Distaff is expected to include Azeri, Farda Amiga, Imperial Gesture, Summer Colony, and Take Charge Lady, all Grade 1 winners this year.

"She'll have been here for six weeks before the Breeders' Cup is run," DiMauro added. "That's the only advantage I have. The others look faster on paper. We're trying to take every edge - training at the track, getting here six weeks ahead of time. I don't know if she's good enough. But if you take an edge here, and an edge there, sometimes it evens out."

DiMauro is also using a local rider, Rene Douglas, who is the runaway leader in the jockeys' race this season at Arlington.

Two Item Limit is scheduled to work again on Monday.

Two Item Limit finished third as a 32-1 shot in last year's Distaff, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Unbridled Elaine and Spain.

All the other runners in the Distaff are scheduled to arrive next week. The first in that group will be Mandy's Gold, who is scheduled to work on Saturday at Delaware Park, then be sent by van to Arlington on Sunday.

"The trip will take 14 or 15 hours," said Michael Gorham, the trainer of Mandy's Gold.

Mandy's Gold, who is regularly ridden by Jose Santos, comes off a second-place finish to Imperial Gesture in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 5. She usually races on or near the lead, but rallied from sixth in the seven-horse field that day.

"She kind of got caught farther back than we'd have liked. Jose said she wasn't handling the track. It was deep and cuppy," Gorham said. "That's not her best surface. She likes something she can get a hold of."

Mandy's Gold has finished in the money in all 11 of her starts this year, and owns five victories, including the seven-furlong Chicago Breeders' Cup Handicap here in June. She has raced 16 times in all, but the 1 1/8-mile Distaff will mark the first race around two turns for Mandy's Gold, whose sire is Gilded Time.