Lady in Pink tough to catch on grass

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Lady in Pink won her last start by 19 1/2 lengths and won a stakes in her only appearance on grass. Those performances are sure to make the speedy 3-year-old Lady in Pink the overwhelming choice to beat five rivals in Saturday's $75,000 Cellars Shiraz Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

, who began her career racing under a $25,000 claiming tag, demolished starter allowance competition by half a pole in her only previous local appearance, which came over the main track on March 10. The lopsided victory got her back on track after Lady in Pink finished sixth in the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and second over the same track in the Sandpiper Stakes.

The five-furlong Cellars Shiraz will mark Lady in Pink's second try on grass. Her first trip on turf resulted in a wire-to-wire 2 1/2-length victory in the five-furlong Happy New Year's Stakes at Calder.

Manoel Cruz, who has guided Lady in Pink to each of her five career victories for trainer Angel Salinas, will be aboard again.

Trainer Allen Jerkens left here several weeks ago but will be represented in the Cellars Shiraz by Winsome, who has the most turf experience of any of the six 3-year-old fillies in the field. Winsome is coming off a third-place finish in a five-furlong turf sprint against entry-level allowance competition here on April 6.

will share high weight of 120 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Cellars Shiraz along with Lady in Pink. Trained by George Handy, Joyous Song was a restricted stakes winner last fall at Delaware but finished behind Lady in Pink in both the Sandpiper and Gasparilla.

Completing the field are Memories of Pa, a late-running fourth in her turf debut earlier this month; Galaxy Lady, a six-length winner of a high-priced maiden claiming race over the main track in her only start this season; and longshot Lucky Colleen.

* Track management has announced a change in post time for Sunday, the final day of the 2005 meeting. First post for Sunday's nine-race program has been advanced 20 minutes to 1:05 p.m. Eastern.