Dicey Girl's late kick can do it

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The three-time stakes winner Your Flame in Me is certainly the horse to beat in Friday's $75,000 Raise Heck Stakes at Aqueduct. But with so much speed signed up for this six-furlong race, it may be wise to look elsewhere for the winner.

Dicey Girl, trained by Steve Klesaris, appears to be the best closer in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies. A daughter of Yonaguska, Dicey Girl has won 3 of 5 starts, including a second-level allowance race run over a sloppy track at Philadelphia Park on Oct. 27.

Klesaris said that the Beyer Speed Figure of 74 that Dicey Girl earned in that race "might not look that great, but the way she did it was what I liked. She was just covered up, just waiting for the opportunity to run. She manhandled that field and won with something left. Since that race, she has breezed brilliantly, and she's ready to put in a top effort."

In the race before the allowance, Dicey Girl finished sixth in the Inaugural Stakes, which happened to be the first race run at the new Presque Isle Downs, which has a Tapeta synthetic surface.

"You can toss that Presque Isle race," Klesaris said. "She never got a good hold of that track."

Jeremy Rose will ride Dicey Girl from post 2.

Your Flame in Me has won 4 of 5 career starts and came out of her only loss - a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness - with a chip in a hind ankle that needed to be surgically removed. Your Flame in Me returned with a strong 4 1/2-length victory in the Lady Tak Stakes over Aqueduct's main track on Nov. 10. She is trained by Michael Trombetta, who is 3 for 3 in stakes at this meet.

"That filly, when she's right she doesn't let you down," Trombetta said. "She performed well there. After this, we might take her to south Florida and try to get some graded black type with her."

The front-running Your Flame in Me, who will carry co-high weight of 123 pounds, may encounter some company on the front end Friday with the likes of Lauras Last Magic and Golden Dawn in the field.

Frisk Her ran second to Your Flame in Me in the Lady Tak Stakes, her first start in a year. She could be expected to improve in her second start off a layoff and first for trainer Gary Contessa, who will also send Meadow Breeze.