Charles Town Oaks, Researcher fields up in the air

Although entries were taken Wednesday for a 13-race card Saturday at Charles Town that features 11 stakes, the fields for the $400,000 co-features remain in flux because of multiple horses cross-entering other six-figure events this weekend in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and New York.

The Researcher, for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs, drew a full field of 10, plus one also-eligible. The female companion to the Researcher, the seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks, attracted 10 3-year-old fillies, plus a pair of also-eligibles.

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The horses who need one or two scratches to make it into the main body of the field appear likely to get an opportunity to run, thanks to four cross-entrants apiece in the Researcher and Oaks.

In the Researcher (race 11), Res Judicata, Take It Like a Man, and Hidden Canyon are cross-entered in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gallant Bob Handicap at Parx Racing on Saturday. Whiskey Romeo is cross-entered in Friday’s $100,000 Aljamin at Belmont Park.

The list of cross-entrants for the Oaks (race 12) is led by My Happy Face. A Grade 3 winner who was narrowly beaten in the Grade 1 Test last time out, My Happy Face also is entered in the $1 million Cotillion on Saturday at Parx. So Many Ways and Fusaichiswonderful, 1-2 in the Grade 3 Eight Belles in May, along with Guadalupe High are all entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Dogwood at Churchill Downs. All three fillies are based in Kentucky.

The most accomplished confirmed starters for the Researcher are Our Double Play, winner of the Prairie Mile three months ago, and Bond Vigilante, a New York-bred who has put together a three-race winning streak, capped by a restricted 6 1/2-furlong stakes at Saratoga.

The field also includes Do It for Don, a five-time winner this season who has yet to win beyond six furlongs, and the West Virginia-bred Hidden Canyon, who has won five straight races locally.

Ile St. Molly, a close second in the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks two months ago; Florida shipper R Free Roll, winner of the Unbridled at Calder in early June; and Mr Hall’s Opus, second last time out in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks; head the list of runners who are entered only in the Oaks.

Any defection would allow Charles Town star filly Jax and Jill to get into the Oaks lineup. She is 8 for 11 while competing primarily against West Virginia-bred company.

Saturday’s program will begin earlier than usual at 5 p.m. Eastern.