Edge goes to Judge T C fillies

As a racehorse, Judge T C was an above-average runner, winning the Grade 3 Rebel Stakes at age 3, the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes and Grade 3 Clark Handicap as a 4-year-old, and a pair of Grade 3 handicaps, the Essex and the Kentucky Cup Classic, in his final year of racing at age 5.

Not coincidentally, all his graded stakes success came at distances of either 1 1/16 or 1 1/8 miles. Judge T C appears to have passed on his penchant for route racing to his offspring.

A pair of Kentucky-bred 2-year-old fillies sired by Judge T C, one from Canada and the other based on the East Coast, are the most formidable threats in Sunday's $100,000 Polly Drummond Stakes at Delaware Park.

Lady Shari, the 121-pound highweight, has blossomed since she has been given more ground by trainer David Coley, winning both starts she has made at the Polly Drummond distance of 8 1/2 furlongs. Most recently, she unleashed a powerful rally to win the Grade 1 Mazarine Breeders' Cup at Woodbine as an 18-1 longshot on Sept. 22. The only time she has been off the board in five career starts came in an experiment sprinting on the turf.

Maresha, the other daughter of Judge T C in the seven-horse field, was ambitiously placed by trainer John Servis in the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga, but she was no match for either of the top two fillies in that sprint, You and Cashier's Dream. In her first start around two turns and on Lasix, Maresha responded with a 2 1/2-length victory in the one-mile Manayunk Stakes at Philadelphia Park.

The other horse with graded stakes experience in the field is First Again. In her first start beyond seven furlongs, the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity at one mile, First Again rallied to finish a close third to Joanies Bella, a filly who went on to win again in her next start. First Again earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 75, which compares favorably to the 76 posted by Lady Shari in her stakes win.