Life at Ten seeks to fulfill early promise

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Life at Ten tipped her ability when she won a maiden race at Hollywood Park in December 2007 in her second start.

Unfortunately for owner Cynthia DeBartolo and trainer Todd Pletcher, an injury left the filly sidelined for 10 months following that race. In her return, Life at Ten finished second in an allowance race at Keeneland last month. She can win the second race of her career in a $40,000 allowance race at 1 1/16 miles at Hollywood Park on Friday evening.

"She's come back and she's 110 percent," said Michael McCarthy, Pletcher's assistant in California. "Hopefully, we can do some big things with her."

Life at Ten is one of five fillies in Wednesday's race. At Keeneland, she was second throughout and finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Crowd Diva.

"I'm sure a big filly like her could have used a race," McCarthy said. "Hopefully, we can get by Friday night and move on to bigger things. I think she'll get better with racing."

The five entrants in Friday's race finished third or better in their last starts, all of which were in October. Golden Nicks and Nurture won maiden races, Sheza Maneater was second in an allowance race, and Star Voyager was third in an optional claimer for sprinters.

Golden Nicks pulled a 32-1 upset going 6 1/2 furlongs here Oct. 29. Trained by Jeff Ford, Golden Nicks made her career debut in that race.

Nurture won a maiden race at 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland on Oct. 15, her fourth career start. Trainer Eoin Harty was happy to see Nurture win, but the race left him with a few doubts.

"It wasn't a particularly fast race," Harty said. "I'm not sure of the competition."

Nurture had run in three sprints at Aqueduct and Saratoga prior to winning at Keeneland. The recent win left Harty confident about Friday's 1 1/16-mile race.

"The distance won't be a problem," he said.

Sheza Maneater, who has drawn the rail, is likely to have the lead. Trained by Bob Baffert, Sheza Maneater was beaten a neck in a one-mile allowance race Oct. 23, leading by 1 1/2 lengths until she was caught near the wire.

Star Voyager will be a longshot. Winless in her last eight starts, Star Voyager's last victory was an optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles at Fairplex Park in September 2007.