Lake dangerous as usual

Trainer Scott Lake has entered eight stakes at Charles Town this season, winning six and finishing second in the other two while collecting $242,990. Lake figures to pad his already impressive statistics Sunday, when he sends out strong contenders in three of the four stakes on Charles Town's card.

All four stakes, sponsored by the local Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, are worth $35,000 and give preference to horses who have raced recently over the local track.

Lake has the probable favorite in the 1 1/8-mile HBPA and West Virginia Racing Commission for older males (race 9) with Sinister G and in the 4 1/2-furlong HBPA Horsemen's for fillies and mares (race 2) with Rain Song.

Sinister G, a 5-year-old formerly based in New York with trainer John Toscano Jr., got onto the preferred list for Sunday's nine-furlong stakes by winning an allowance at Charles Town on July 14 by 5 1/4 lengths. Racing for first time under Lake's name, Sinister G earned a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

The horse who would have been Sinister G's chief rival, Cherokee's Boy, who set a track record at the distance last fall, is cross-entered in Sunday's $125,000 West Virginia Governor's Cup at Mountaineer and is expected to run there.

The only horses who seem capable of threatening Sinister G are Donald's Pride, the runner-up to the favorite last time, and Miner Moss, a seven-furlong specialist who comes off a win with a career-high 101 Beyer.

In the second race, Rain Song owns a 3-for-3 record at Charles Town, including a three-length stakes victory in May. She most recently won the two-furlong Rocket Man against males at Calder.

A 5-year-old, Rain Song was cross-entered in a turf stakes Saturday at Delaware Park, just in case the race was rained off the grass.

The horse to fear is defending champion Miss Hamma, a 7-year-old who is cross-entered in race 7, the seven-furlong West Virginia.

If Miss Hamma goes in the West Virginia, she will have to face Lake's third horse, Remarqable Tale, and Stars n' Amber, a Penn National-based mare who is 3 for 3 shipping into Charles Town. Remarqable Tale is 3 for 4 locally, but was beaten at 1-2 in her most recent start July 4.

In the one race where Lake doesn't have an entry, Maryland-based trainer Howie Wolfendale appears to have a strong favorite in Wry Humor for the HBPA Dash (race 6) at 4 1/2 furlongs.

Colonial: Three rivals meet again

Bestowed, Touched by Madness, and Legal Control - separated by less than two lengths as the first three finishers in last month's Da Hoss Stakes - are rematched in the $60,000 Polynesian at Colonial Downs.

At 1 1/16 miles, the Polynesian is a half-furlong longer than the Da Hoss. Unlike last time, when all three horses carried 120 pounds, Bestowed has been assigned an additional four pounds following his 1 1/4-length win.

A clean trip could help either Touched by Madness or Legal Control turn the tables.

Touched by Madness, winless in nine starts since capturing last year's Grade 3 Kent at Delaware Park, clipped heels in the Da Hoss, yet still managed to hold second after leading at the eighth pole.

Legal Control was brushed at the quarter pole, yet still finished gamely to get within 1 3/4 lengths of Da Hoss winner Bestowed.

Others whose recent Beyer Figures put them within range of the top three contenders are Bastille, a decisive winner of an optional claimer over the course three weeks ago; Bodgiteer, most recently third in the Claiming Crown Emerald; and Foufa's Warrior, who has been second or third in his last five starts dating back to July 2005.