Bernie Blue stretches out at Mountaineer

Bernie Blue, stretching out to a mile and 70 yards after a pair of seconds sprinting, will try to win Saturday's $75,000 Slipton Fell Handicap at Mountaineer Racetrack for the second straight year.

Although based at Thistledown with trainer Miguel Feliciano, the 6-year-old Bernie Blue is 10 for 21 lifetime at Mountaineer. He failed to reach 90 on the Beyer Figure scale in his first two starts this season, both over wet tracks, after posting six Beyers of 95 or better during an eight-race span last season in which he won four stakes locally.

Bernie Blue's task will be considerably more difficult if Coyoteshighestcall runs. The much-improved Coyoteshighestcall is cross-entered in Saturday's $70,000 Frisk Me Now Stakes at Monmouth Park.

A fast pace could set things up for 9-year-old M B Sea, who hasn't been out since finishing second to Bernie Blue in the Mountaineer Mile last November. He was also second in last year's Slipton Fell.