Bright Gold may improve at home

BALTIMORE - Mary Eppler hopes a little home-course advantage plays in her favor when Bright Gold runs in Friday's $75,000 The Very One Handicap at Pimlico.

The Very One begins an all-stakes late pick four that has a guaranteed pool of $250,000.

is coming off a second-place finish to Gilded Gold in last month's Giant's Causeway at Keeneland. Gilded Gold is the horse to beat again in the The Very One, but Eppler is hopeful of turning the tables.

Bright Gold is based at Pimlico, where last August she won a classified allowance race by 1 1/4 lengths, her third win in a five-race winning streak. In the Giant's Causeway, Bright Gold broke poorly and was spotting Gilded Gold three pounds. Friday, both Golds carry 124 pounds.

"It's a sandy turf course there and we got a lot of rain right before that race down there, and she broke terrible,'' Eppler said of the race at Keeneland. "She had to go six wide. The chart says she also drifted out late. It's not that she was drifting out late, it was Gilded Gold was taking us out. Hopefully, that won't happen again.''

Eppler isn't thrilled with her post 13 draw, but it is likely there will be a few scratches before post time. For example, Evasive, who is in post 9, ran Wednesday at Belmont Park.

, trained by Alan Goldberg, won the Giant's Causeway off a five-month layoff. The 5-year-old Gilded Gold has won 7 of 15 career starts and is 2 for 3 on turf.

"She was a pretty good horse before she got on the turf,'' said Goldberg, who trains at Colts Neck Stable training center in central New Jersey. "We have a turf course out here. She went one day on the turf and she went really well. She breaks real hard and sometimes the dirt breaks out from under her.''

finished a troubled fourth in the Giant's Causeway, but bounced back with a solid effort when beaten a half-length in the Mamzelle. She may benefit from some expected give in the turf course.