'Bubbette' stands out in field of 8

Sharp recent form seems to be the common trait for nearly the entire field in Saturday's $150,000 Safely Kept Breeders' Cup Stakes at Pimlico. Of the eight 3-year-old fillies entered in the Grade 3, six-furlong sprint, four are coming off victories and two others most recently ran second.

The one filly whose credentials stand out, however, is a stranger to the East Coast who spent the summer shuttling from Kentucky to Chicago to Louisiana.

Holy Bubbette, who has posted back-to-back Beyer Speed Figures of 101 and 103 while crushing the competition by a combined 16 1/2 lengths, is unbeaten in three starts since coming to the Churchill Downs barn of Tom Amoss in June. She will break from post 2 with Horacio Karamanos, Pimlico's leading rider.

"We are excited about this race," Amoss said. "We won this race a year ago with Miss Lodi and think this filly is of equal quality. The post-position draw is a positive for a speed filly.

"The quality about her that is most encouraging is that her temperament has improved since joining our barn, and with each race her performance has been better," he said.

In her only previous stakes appearance, the Dixie Miss at Louisiana Downs, Holy Bubbette sat just off sizzling opening fractions of 21.80 and 44.76 seconds before drawing off by eight lengths under a hand ride.

Based on recent Beyers, Holy Bubbette's chief threat should be Flawless Diamond, a New York-based filly who is undefeated in two starts. She won her career debut for trainer Todd Pletcher at Saratoga and came back a month later at Belmont to whip first-level allowance sprinters, improving her Beyer Figure from 85 to 99. Given a month to freshen, she will be extremely dangerous if she moves forward.

Another shipper, Randaroo, may also be poised to improve in her first start since moving from the Maryland barn of Tony Dutrow to New York-based Kiaran McLaughlin.

Randaroo, winner of the Grade 3 Valley Stream at 2, is coming off a second-place finish in the Miss Woodford at Monmouth, a race in which she flashed high early speed and led until the final furlong. Randaroo's effort probably was better than it appeared, because the usually speed-favoring Monmouth main track distinctly favored closers that day.

That also means handicappers might want to downgrade Elegant Designer, who capitalized on the bias to win the Miss Woodford from off the pace.