Lincoln: Look for hot pace in Bluegrass

There should be no shortage of speed when a field of six fillies and mares match up at six furlongs for the $15,000 Bluegrass Handicap at the Lincoln State Fair in Nebraska.

Up 'n Blumin, Missy Can Do, and Nikki Nine, all stakes winners over the track, will meet for the first time.

Up 'n Blumin is a two-time stakes winner this year at Fonner Park, Missy Can Do is the two-time defending champion of the Bluegrass, while 3-year-old Nikki Nine will take on older off a gutsy win in the Princess Stakes at Lincoln on May 14. The three have all been at their best on the front end and should provide a lively pace from the start.

Missy Can Do, winner of the Bold Accent Stakes at Fonner Park early this year, has made her last two starts at Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma, with a third and a fourth against open allowance company.

Up 'n Blumin captured the Al Swihart Stakes on closing day at Fonner Park and won the Orphan Kist there against statebreds.

Nikki Nine registered a pair of stakes wins at Fonner, taking the Bachman Stakes against males and the Pepsi Stakes against her own sex. She then set the pace in the Goldfinch Stakes at Prairie Meadows on April 21 before fading to fifth. She rebounded with her Princess score on May 14.