A freshened Capeside Lady faces Injustice

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Capeside Lady, who is making her first start of the year, meets fellow graded-stakes winner Injustice, who appears to be sitting on a peak race, in the $100,000 Bayakoa on Sunday at Oaklawn Park.

The 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares drew a field of six. It continues the annual Racing Festival of the South, when nine stakes worth $2.8 million are decided over the final week of racing at Oaklawn.

, a multiple Grade 2 winner of $694,760, has not raced since finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park on Oct. 29. Following the race she was sold for $700,000 to Dapple Bloodstock at the Keeneland November auction.

Capeside Lady, now 5, will be making her first start for trainer Steve Asmussen. She shows a series of strong workouts for her return, with her latest moves coming at Oaklawn.

"She's a classy mare to be around," said Asmussen. "She trains awesome. She's very impressive with everything she does."

Capeside Lady has natural speed, and used it to wire her rivals in last year's Grade 2 Molly Pitcher Breeders' Cup Handicap at Monmouth Park. But she has also been effective from off the pace, tactics she could employ in the Bayakoa.

"She'll be anywhere you want," said Asmussen. "She's good that way. She's a very, very manageable horse."

comes into the Bayakoa off a third-place finish in the Grade 2, $200,000 Shirley Jones Breeders' Cup Handicap at Gulfstream Park on March 18, when she dueled on the lead and finished third to Grade 1 winner Splendid Blended.

"She ran huge," said Wayne Catalano, who trains Injustice. "She really ran her race. She hung in there to get all she could get."

Catalano said that one of Injustice's owners, Mark Cornett, picked out the Bayakoa for her. She flew into town from Florida on Tuesday. Injustice has a 3-for-7 record here, including her biggest career win in last year's Grade 3 Azeri.

Injustice has excellent speed, and after racing through six furlongs in 1:09 in her last start, it's no secret where she will be soon after the start Sunday.

"Galloping two in front, probably," said Catalano, jokingly.

Jamie Theriot has the mount on Injustice.

The field is completed by , Took Out, Big Time Cat, and Caviar Emptor.