Maiden merits Princess respect

Trainer Dale Romans has won three stakes for 2-year-old fillies over the past month, and has a good chance to keep his streak rolling on Friday night when he sends out the maiden Quiet Temper in the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Princess at Delta Downs.

The one-mile race is the female counterpart to the Grade 3, $750,000 Delta Jackpot, with the two races being the richest offerings on a program of six stakes worth more than $1.6 million. The Princess and Jackpot are part of a $100,000 guaranteed pick four that runs from races 6 to 9.

Quiet Temper will have to beat Truth and Justice, a winner of three straight stakes, to have success in the Princess. But there are reasons to believe she might be up to the challenge for Romans, who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Tapitsfly on Nov. 6, and sent out Sassy Image to sweep Churchill's fall series for 2-year-old fillies, the Grade 3 Pocahontas on Nov. 1 and the Grade 2 Golden Rod on Nov. 28.

"Quiet Temper always trained like one of our best fillies, and we've got some really nice fillies," said Romans, who trains the daughter of Quiet American for Mark Stanley.

Quiet Temper last raced on Oct. 4, finishing second in a one-mile maiden special weight at Belmont Park that has become a key race. The winner, Ailalea, returned in her next start to take the Grade 3 Tempted at Aqueduct. Protesting, who was third, came right back to win a maiden special weight at Keeneland, and The Mailet, who was eighth, won her maiden in her next start, at Belmont, then headed to Hollywood Park and won the Grade 3 Miesque.

Romans entered Quiet Temper in the Golden Rod, but scratched her and redirected her to Delta. She will break from post 9 in the field of nine Friday, under jockey Robby Albarado.

"I think she'll just have a stalking trip," said Romans.

Truth and Justice made her two-turn debut last out in the $125,000 My Trusty Cat at Delta, and won by a diminishing three-quarters of a length after a rough trip. She was bumped around and hooked by a rank rival, and went faster earlier than anticipated, said her trainer, Kelly Breen. She will move from seven furlongs to a mile on Friday.

"I think she can get the distance," Breen said. "At Delta, the sharp, tight turns are to her advantage. I think she did not run her best race in her last race, and I think she was compromised by the horse that was rank . . . the unexpected pressure of someone ding-donging with us the first half-mile."

Joe Bravo has the mount on Truth and Justice.

Delta Mile: Ez Dreamer stretches out

Ez Dreamer has developed into a top Midwest sprinter over the past several months, with wins in the $125,000 Iowa Sprint at Prairie Meadows and the $100,000 Premiere at Zia Park. But on Friday, he will return to his roots, in a sense. He will be stretching back out around two turns for the first time since May for the $125,000 Delta Mile.

The race drew a field of eight of the region's top older horses, including graded winners Jonesboro, Spotsgone, and Z Humor. But the edge could go to Ez Dreamer, who is a stakes winner at 1 1/16 miles and graded-stakes-placed at two turns. He will be making his first start over the six-furlong oval at Delta.

"With his speed, if he handles the turns good, it may give him a little advantage," said Kory Owens, who trains Ez Dreamer and has given the mount to Glenn Corbett.

* Heavenly Vision has a chance to wire the field in the first stakes of the night, the $60,000 Orleans for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. Shane Sellers has the mount for trainer Steve Asmussen. The pair also has a good chance in the other 3-year-old stakes on the card, the $60,000 Sam's Town, with Dumar.

* Unforgotten could get a decent pace to run down in the $125,000 Treasure Chest, a one-mile race for fillies and mares that also drew the up and coming Mayhaw.