Fairmount: Lady Hallie runners meet

Three alumni from the $100,000 Lady Hallie Stakes at Hawthorne on April 30 - including the runner-up, Li'lbito'sunshine - will face each other again in the $40,000 Slight in the Rear Stakes at Fairmount Park. A six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies, the Slight in the Rear is the first stakes of the Fairmount meet, which opened March 25.

Although Li'lbito'sunshine finished well ahead of Cart's Turn in the Lady Hallie, Cart's Turn may be a slight favorite in a balanced field of seven because she has a perfect record at Fairmount, including a six-length victory in last year's All Sold Out Stakes. Before her sixth in the Lady Hallie, Cart's Turn began her 2005 campaign by winning the $40,000 Parts Unknown Stakes at Hawthorne on March 18.

Denoun N Deverb, who finished a distant second to Cart's Turn in the 2004 All Sold Out, looks to be the cream of the local crop. Trained by Leroy Hellman, Denoun N Deverb bounced back from that runner-up effort to prevail in last September's Shuvee Stakes at Fairmount. After ending the year with three defeats, Denoun N Deverb got a 5 1/2-month layoff and returned May 30 to score a four-length victory over fellow Slight in the Rear entrant Royal Riley in a $15,000 handicap at Fairmount.

Off that win, Denoun N Deverb has a good shot against Cart's Turn on Saturday, according to Hellman.

"Cart's Turn was horse of the year last year, in my opinion," he said. "She's awful good, but if my horse improves off her last race, she'll be real tough."

Sweetcart, fourth in the Lady Hallie, recently set the pace before tiring to fifth in a mile allowance race for Illinois-breds at Arlington.