Laurel: Mile for Smart and Fancy

Smart and Fancy ended her 2005 juvenile season with three straight victories, including two stakes, and she picked up right where she left off by winning the Beautiful Day at Delaware five weeks ago in her first start of this year. Smart and Fancy will try to make it five straight in the $75,000 Twixt, a one-mile stakes for Maryland-bred 3-year-old fillies at Laurel Park.

The challenge for Smart and Fancy in the Twixt will be to stretch her speed a furlong farther than ever before. The Beautiful Day was at six furlongs and the Maryland Million Lassie, which Smart and Fancy won last October, was at seven furlongs. She will have to deal with the sprinters Scheing E Jet and My Misty's Echo early in the Twixt and hold off the late runs of Keep on Talking, Racing Bridgett, and Les Ry Leigh. Trained by Tony Dutrow, Smart and Fancy has been working swiftly since her Delaware win, an indication that jockey Jeremy Rose is unlikely to have her far off the lead Saturday.

Les Ry Leigh may find herself in the perfect spot in the Twixt. She won two straight allowance races at Delaware and then finished second there in her first try against older about a month ago. In all three of those races she sat a couple of lengths off the early pace, which would be a good place to be Saturday if Smart and Fancy is hooked on the lead.