Jimmy's Boy ultra-sharp

It's all about quickness Saturday night at Evangeline Downs, where seven of the fastest horses on the grounds will contest the $50,000 Need for Speed Stakes. The five-furlong sprint will go as the ninth race on a 10-race program.

Jimmy's Boy, a 47-race veteran and career earner of $379,000, should be favored after narrowly missing in a pair of conditioned allowance races locally. A 7-year-old Illinois-bred, Jimmy's Boy has been in the exacta in all four starts in 2007, winning two races for a $25,000 claiming price at Fair Grounds in February. He was claimed in his final Fair Grounds start by current trainer Andrew Ney.

Sparkling Jack, unplaced going seven furlongs in an optional claimer at Louisiana Downs in his last start, returns to the track where he earned a third-level allowance score on April 18. The Louisiana-bred Sparkling Jack has a stalking running style that could prove effective in a race which has more than its fair share of early speed.

Chocolate Warrior, a three-time winner locally who returned after a two-month break in mid-May, will be making his third start for trainer Ellis Cuevas, who claimed the 6-year-old gelding for $35,000 at Fair Grounds on March 12.