Fly Borboleta a speed danger

ALTOONA, Iowa - Fly Borboleta and local star Sharky's Review head a field of eight fillies and mares in Saturday's $50,000 Wild Rose Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

Fly Borboleta enters the Wild Rose following the best effort of her 13-race career, a second-place finish to You in the Grade 2 Louisville Breeders' Cup Handicap at Churchill Downs. Fly Borboleta dueled through fast fractions in that 1 1/16-mile race and was beaten 7 3/4 lengths.

Elliott Walden trains Fly Borboleta, who has shown much more early speed in her three starts this year than she did as a 3-year-old in 2002, when she generally raced from well off the pace. Fly Borboleta, a daughter of Pulpit, has yet to win a stakes race and must carry 123 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Wild Rose. She spots her rivals between 5 and 8 pounds. Larry Melancon, who has been aboard Fly Borboleta in her last two starts, will be in from Kentucky for the mount.

Sharky's Review, the top Iowa-bred female money earner of all time with more than $450,000 in earnings, is a major threat Saturday. A 5-year-old daughter of Sharky, Sharky's Review got back on the winning track in her last start. She posted a 4 1/2-length victory, leading throughout over conditioned allowance company here at a mile and 70 yards for trainer Mark Bader.

Sharky's Review will most likely come from off the pace in the Wild Rose under regular rider Luis Quinonez.

The 1 1/16-mile Wild Rose is far from a two-horse race. The eight runners in the field have combined for 54 career wins and earned more than $1.9 million. Other contenders are Bold Bluff and Littleriverqueen.