Flint sends three in Bassinet

Bernie Flint will have three in an attempt to make four.

Flint, the trainer who for many years has made regular and successful forays into Ohio and other nearby states from his Kentucky base, will run three fillies Saturday at River Downs in the $100,000 Bassinet Stakes, a race Flint already has won three times.

Eleven 2-year-old fillies are entered in the six-furlong Bassinet, with Flint quite possibly having the top three betting choices. The fillies will race as separate betting interests, and Flint said Thursday he had "no idea" which one he would back among Im a Dixie Girl, Angel Trumpet, or Runway Model.

"Who knows which one will win?" he said. "I'm caught the same way [Nick] Zito was caught in the Travers with three different owners. All these owners are from Louisville or Lexington, and we've had these fillies nominated to the Bassinet for several months now. Naturally all the owners would like to win, so it should be a good horse race."

Flint noted that Runway Model, who has the benefit of the far outside post, earned an 87 Beyer Speed Figure when she won the Bassinet prep at the Cincinnati track on Aug. 15.

"That's a huge number for a 2-year-old filly at this stage, and I was kind of shocked when I saw it," he said. "If it's legit, she's got to have a big shot. But they've all got a good chance, really. May the best horse win is all I can say."

The most accomplished of Flint's threesome is Angel Trumpet, who won her maiden at Churchill Downs and finished second in the Grade 2 Schuylerville at Saratoga and the Fisher Debutante at Ellis Park.

Flint said the main threat to his powerful trio could be Gallant Secret, based at Great Lakes Downs with trainer James Jackson. Gallant Secret defeated fillies at first asking at Keeneland in April, then was good enough to finish second behind the multiple-stakes- winning colt Lunarpal in her only subsequent start, the Three Chimneys Juvenile on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs.

Gallant Secret, a Kentucky-bred by Menifee, has been working bullets in recent weeks for Jackson and figures to battle for favoritism with the Flint's horses.

The Bassinet is part of a one-hour ESPN2 telecast that begins at 4 p.m. Eastern.

* The "big brother" race to the Bassinet, the $200,000 Cradle Stakes, is shaping up with a field of seven or eight 2-year-old colts and geldings, led by Saratoga invader Scipion, an impressive winner in his only start. Entries for the Cradle, which closes the River meet on Monday, were to be drawn Friday.