Del Mar Show looks like short price in the Battlefield

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The two $60,000 stakes Saturday at Monmouth Park are small in value but long in talent.

Multiple graded-stakes winner Del Mar Show headlines the Battlefield at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

Marylebone, winner of the Grade 1 Matron at Belmont Park last fall, tops a strong entry from trainer Todd Pletcher in the Revidere for 3-year-old fillies at one mile.

Del Mar Show, 7, has posted 11 career wins, five of them graded stakes, including Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap in 2002 and the Grade 2 Hialeah Turf Cup in 2001.

"He's a tough little horse who has been very consistent," said trainer Bill Mott. "He's been a real trooper."

He has run three times this year, getting a win and a second in allowance races at Gulfstream.

Del Mar Show was compromised by the surface in his latest outing, a fifth-place finish in the John B. Connally Breeders' Cup Stakes at Sam Houston. The course was yielding and Del Mar Show runs best when it's firm.

"We hit soft turf there," said Mott. "We were foolish to run him over it, knowing that he does not like soft ground."

Assuming he finds favorable footing Saturday, Del Mar Show figures to be a short-priced favorite over nine rivals.

Trainer Norman Pointer will try to upset Del Mar Show with Megantic, a former Mott trainee. Pointer claimed Megantic from Mott for $62,500 in March 2003 at Gulfstream.

Megantic has won one race for Pointer, a $50,000 claimer this past March. Megantic ran well in Grade 2 stakes in his last two outings: a third in the Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream and a fourth in the Dixie Stakes at Pimlico.

Completing the field are American Freedom, Final Prophecy, Roaring Fever, Run to Victory, Better Talk Now, Cool N Collective, and the Michael Gill-owned entry of White Buck and Sardaukar.

Pletcher pair potent in Revidere

Pletcher entered Marylebone and Get Set in the Revidere but will probably run only one.

"We'll look at Daily Racing Form, handicap the race, and hopefully make the right decision," said Pletcher.

Marylebone has not won in three tries since her win in the Matron.

She finished second in two allowance starts this season, most recently behind runaway winner Daydreaming at Belmont.

"She ran competitively both times," said Pletcher. "She is an honest filly and she has been running well. I've thinking it might be time to get her back to a two-turn race."

Which is precisely what she would get in the Revidere.

Get Set, Pletcher's other option, has posted consecutive wins.

"She looks like a filly with quality," said Pletcher. "We want to find a spot to get her stakes qualified."

There are six other runners in the stakes, which is being run on dirt for the first time.

Grinch steps up into this spot for trainer Joe Orseno. She was an allowance winner on the opening day card after recovering from a solid bump at the break.

Gone to Paris ships up from Maryland for trainer Leo Nechamkin II. She has won 3 of 6 starts and drew off to a four-length win in allowance company at Pimlico last time out.

Rodeo Licious, Fall Fashion, Menifeeque, and Mistda round out the field.