Finger Lakes: Filly tests males

Fillies don't beat colts in stakes races very often. If there is anybody who can help a filly get the job done at Finger Lakes, however, it's jockey John Grabowski.

Grabowski will try to win the six-furlong Ontario County Handicap for the fifth straight year aboard So Sweet a Cat, the lone filly in a field of nine New York-bred 3-year-old sprinters.

So Sweet a Cat, who has been first or second in 6 of 7 lifetime starts for trainer Ralph D'Alessandro, is already accustomed to challenging males in restricted stakes. As a 2-year-old, she missed by a neck in the Finger Lakes Juvenile and finished second, beaten less than two lengths, in the New York Breeders' Futurity.

In her lone start this season, So Sweet a Cat came from seventh to draw off to a 4 1/4-length victory over older horses in an allowance race on Memorial Day.

Grabowski, who won last year's Ontario County with Strausberg, will be riding So Sweet a Cat for the first time.

The probable favorite in the Ontario County is Mysweethearts Gone, a gelding who is 3 for 3 at Finger Lakes, all at distances shorter or longer than six furlongs. Mysweethearts Gone, claimed in April by trainer Michael Lecesse for $25,000, has easily won his first two starts for his new connections. Although both races were at a mile and 70 yards, he was well in front after six furlongs and the distance switch may not bother him.

The best last-race Beyer Speed Figure in the field belongs to H.M.S. Majestic, who earned an 80 for his eight-length win against nonwinners-of-three-lifetime allowance sprinters.

* The Scott Lake-trained Cologny goes for her fourth win in a row in the co-feature on the program, the $50,000, six-furlong Arctic Queen Handicap for New York-breds.

The 4-year-old Cologny, claimed for $25,000 in February, has not been worse than second in five starts for Lake. She shipped in from downstate New York to score a half-length victory in the Susan B. Anthony Handicap on Memorial Day.

Travelator and Serenity's Smile, who finished second and third behind Cologny in the Susan B. Anthony, are back to try again.

The Stan Hough-trained Travelator, who won a statebred stakes at Belmont last season, should be tighter for this start, her second off a long layoff.