Charles Town: Lucy's Bob Boy brings excellent local record into Wild and Wonderful Stakes

West Virginia-bred star Lucy’s Bob Boy will make a rare stakes appearance against open company in Saturday night’s $85,000 Wild and Wonderful, one of nine supporting stakes on a Race for the Ribbon 13-race card at Charles Town headlined by the $400,000 Researcher and the $400,000 Charles Town Oaks.

Unlike the last time he tested the waters against open stakes horses in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile, the 4-year-old Lucy’s Bob Boy will be able to run at home, where he is 14 for 17 lifetime. Trained by Sandra Dono, Lucy’s Bob Boy bounced back nicely from his off-the-board finish in the Salvator Mile by winning last month’s seven-furlong Frank Gall Memorial.

The two biggest threats to Lucy’s Bob Boy in the seven-furlong Wild and Wonderful may be the long-absent Isthmus and the Parx shipper Golddigger’s Boy.

Isthmus hasn’t raced since he was claimed for $50,000 in September 2012 at Saratoga. But he merits respect coming from the barn of Mike Trombetta, who is 7 for 15 shipping into Charles Town this season and wins at a 30-percent clip (7 for 23) with horses who have been off 180 days or more returning in sprints at 6 1/2 or seven furlongs.

Golddigger’s Boy, second in the 2012 running of the Grade 3 James Marvin at Saratoga, takes a substantial drop in class after finishing last over a sloppy track in the Grade 1 Forego three weeks ago. He will be making the third start of his current form cycle, an angle that has produced a 20-for-89 record (22 percent) for trainer Ramon Preciado over the past five years.

In the only other stakes for open company on the undercard, Strike the Moon, the winner of the 2011 Charles Town Oaks, returns to West Virginia for only the second time since that race in the $50,000 Pink Ribbon for fillies and mares going seven furlongs (race 9). Strike the Moon, based at Laurel Park with Trombetta, exits a third-place finish on Polytrack in the Grade 3 Seaway at Woodbine.

[CHARLES TOWN OAKS: Get PPs, watch Saturday's full card live]

The remaining seven undercard stakes are for West Virginia-breds prepping for next month’s West Virginia Breeders’ Classic program.

◗ Debut winner Windsor’s Graduate is among six last-out maiden winners in the $50,000 Rachel’s Turn for 2-year-old fillies going 4 1/2 furlongs (race 6).

◗ The 72 Beyer Speed Figure that Amherst Street earned for his debut victory in July stands out in the $50,000 Henry Mercer Memorial for 2-year-olds going 4 1/2 furlongs (race 7).

◗ The 3-year-old multiple stakes winner In the Fairway, 7 for 12 lifetime, challenges older horses in the 4 1/2-furlong, $50,000 It’s Only Money (race 13).

◗ Golden Set, runner-up to Lucy’s Bob Boy in last month’s Frank Gall, faces Waves and Tides, the winner of last fall’s Onion Juice on the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic program, in the $35,000 Dr. Ernest Benner Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs (race 3).

◗ The 7-year-old millionaire Russell Road returns to Charles Town, where he is 22 for 35, and stretches out from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles for the $35,000 Roger Ramey Handicap (race 4).

◗ The 3-year-old filly Donnameade looks for her fifth straight victory when she races beyond seven furlongs for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile, $35,000 Harry Buch Handicap for fillies and mares (race 5).

◗ The 6-year-old mare Down Town Allen, whose 17-for-30 local record includes a win in last fall’s $225,000 Cavada, tunes up for another start in that seven-furlong stakes in the 6 1/2-furlong, $35,000 Ann Hilton Handicap for fillies and mares (race 8).