Saffie Joseph Jr. has nine horses entered at Charles Town on Friday, and a quartet of 3-year-old fillies could possibly lead the charge for the trainer in the Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks. Within Joseph’s small cavalry, Indy Bay seems to have the strongest chance in the Charles Town Oaks after a distant third-place finish in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Saratoga. In the $150,000 Jersey Girl in June, she wrapped up a three-race winning streak with her first stakes victory. “Last time, I think we ran her back too quick,” Joseph said. “Trying to regroup, and seven furlongs at Charles Town seems like a good spot. Two turns is a bit of a question mark at seven-eighths, but if she fires her best, she should be competitive.” Paradise City, Indy Bay’s stablemate in New York, returned from a two-month layoff and finished third by 13 lengths in the $225,000 Iowa Oaks in July. Andrea and Luvumorgan ran against one another in two $75,000 stakes at Gulfstream before shipping to West Virginia. Luvumorgan finished 2 3/4 lengths ahead of her stablemate in the Game Face in May, but Andrea turned the tables to win the Azalea last time out. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Joseph has strength in numbers in the Charles Town Oaks, but trainer Phil D’Amato has Vodka With a Twist, who may be the filly to beat returning to dirt. After coming up short in five straight graded stakes, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, D’Amato shipped his filly to Churchill Downs in June. She finished second again in the $175,000 Leslie’s Lady that month, but it was a vastly improved runner-up performance behind Kilwin, the next-out winner of the Grade 1 Test. While Vodka With a Twist, with a decisive class edge, will open as the 2-1 morning-line favorite, 4-1 third choice Secret Faith, out of trainer Jayde Gelner’s barn, offers a vastly different background. The Louisiana-bred filly has spent most of her career sparring against statebred rivals and returned from a layoff to win the $75,000 Louisiana Stallion by 14 3/4 lengths earlier this month. Robert Hilton Memorial When Owen Almighty took a short lead with a quarter-mile to go in the Kentucky Derby, owner Hunter Rankin was moved beyond words. The president of Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing was suddenly a part of something much bigger. “You can’t match what he did for us,” Rankin said. “If we ever win it, I’m sure it’ll be more exciting, but I don’t know that anything will ever be as special as that day was.” In a race that proved detrimental to early speed, Owen Almighty quickly lost his flickering advantage to stronger closers but fought on valiantly to finish fifth. Trainer Brian Lynch has focused on giving him time to recover, and after nearly four months off, he will return in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes at Charles Town on Friday. After a successful stint at Tampa Bay Downs earlier this year, including a victory in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, Owen Almighty broke poorly and ceded the early lead in the Grade 1 Blue Grass. He finished sixth, which remains the worst finish of his career. Rankin acknowledged that it may have helped his colt to be on the front end at Keeneland, but he doesn’t believe that Owen Almighty needs the lead to win. It may be necessary that he’s right in the Hilton Memorial, as several runners seem intent on hustling forward in the seven-furlong sprint. :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  From the rail, all three inside horses seem like potential pacesetters. Faster Gator and Neoequos, who started ahead of Owen Almighty in the Kentucky Derby, could rate if needed, but Tres Coronas is almost certain to go for trainer Luis Ramirez after two commanding gate-to-wire victories at Gulfstream. Anthony Farrior is the only local trainer in the race and finally seems to have Faster Gator figured out. “He’s probably one of the best I’ve ever trained,” Farrior said. “I kind of feel [bad] about managing him and putting him in the right spot, but we’ve been running in some decent competition.” After a runner-up finish in the $150,000 Bay Shore, Farrior said that he regretted pushing the colt in the $150,000 Chick Lang and trying the synthetic at Presque Isle. He finally got back on the right track last month when the colt crushed a conditioned allowance field at Charles Town by six lengths. Pink Ribbon While most stakes races at Charles Town will offer full fields on Friday, the $250,000 Pink Ribbon has come up noticeably light and will only feature four horses. Joseph had to enter a second filly to make sure that the race filled. Originally, Joseph was only going to send Mystic Lake, a 4-year-old filly with three stakes victories this year, including the Grade 2 Inside Information in January. To supplement the field, however, he also entered Save Time, who finished sixth by 10 3/4 lengths in an allowance at Saratoga last time out. “It was three horses and we put in Save Time because we’d like to get black type with her if possible,” Joseph said. “Obviously, [there are] three good horses in there, but you never know.” Joseph’s pair will square off with 3-5 morning-line favorite Vahva, who won her second straight running of the Grade 2 Chicago at Churchill Downs in June for trainer Cherie DeVaux. Free Like a Girl, a 6-year-old mare trained by Chasey Pomier, will fill out the field of four. Statebred stakes Charles Town will also host four statebred stakes races on Charles Town Classic Day, providing local trainers with their fair share of the limelight on the track’s biggest day. In the $75,000 Sadie Hawkins, the first stakes on the 13-race card, 8-5 morning-line favorite Maggie’s Girl will square off with The Sky Is Falling, who upset her in a statebred allowance earlier this month. In the $40,000 Last Enchantment Stakes, trainer Jeff Runco will send out Duncan Idaho, who has not lost in four starts this year. In the $75,000 It’s Only Money in June, he easily kicked away from Youthinkthatsfunny and Honeyquist, a pair trained by Farrior that he will face again on Friday. The other two statebred stakes, the $40,000 Autumn and $75,000 Frank Gall Memorial, will occur after the Charles Town Classic. In the Autumn, Cynthia McKee has 3-5 morning-line favorite Overnight Pow Wow, who would be on a five-race winning streak if not for a medication violation in July. While local trainers seem poised to rule the day in most statebred stakes, trainer Arnaud Delacour may have the upper hand with Pascaline in the Frank Gall Memorial. The colt ran solidly in three open-company stakes this year and just missed by a neck in the $75,000 Robert G. Leavitt for statebred 3-year-olds at Charles Town last month. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.