Beulah: Slight edge to Patti's Clown

Seven of the eight Ohio-bred fillies and mares in Saturday's $40,000 Bobbie Bricker Memorial Handicap at Beulah Park recorded Beyer Speed Figures between 61 and 67 in their last start, indicating little separates the runners in terms of current form.

Upon closer inspection, Patti's Clown, trained by Mike Nance, is the pick. Patti's Clown raced close to the pace and finished fourth, beaten four lengths, against the state's top mares last time out in the 1 1/8-mile Best of Ohio Distaff on Oct. 1.

Three starts back, Patti's Clown scored an easy 4 1/4-length victory in the Miss Southern Ohio at the same 1 1/16-mile distance as the Bricker, defeating two of her main rivals in Saturday's race, Oh So Easy and Imahoneytoo, who dead-heated for second.

The 4-year-old Patti's Clown has a record of 3-3-0 from 11 starts in 2005. Nance has given jockey Scott Spieth the mount.

Oh So Easy is the most accomplished member of the field, with 10 career victories and more than $300,000 in earnings. She looks to rebound from a seventh-place finish in the Best of Ohio Distaff in which she never made a run as the 8-5 favorite. Oh So Easy, a multiple stakes winner, will be coupled in a Tim Hamm-trained entry with 3-year-old filly Marketable. Ricardo Feliciano will be in from Cleveland to ride Oh So Easy.

Imahoneytoo won last year's Bricker but is winless in seven starts since then. She has, however, finished on the board in five of those races, including three stakes. Luis Martinez Jr. will ride.