Maidens take center stage

AUBURN, Wash. - Rarely does a maiden race overshadow everything else on the card, but such is the case Sunday at Emerald Downs.

Among the six entered in race 4, a 5 1/2-furlong dash for maiden 3-year-old fillies, are three first-time starters, two horses who placed in stakes last summer, and one high-priced Keeneland purchase who will make her 2010 debut for a new barn.

A look at the field from the rail out:

* Be Faithful, a first-time starter owned and trained by Howard Belvoir, is a half-sister to Winning Machine, the champion 3-year-old at Emerald Downs last summer. Belvoir got a steal when he purchased her for $4,000 at the 2008 Washington summer sale, a year before Winning Machine emerged with victories in the Tacoma Handicap and Emerald Derby at Emerald Downs and the British Columbia Derby at Hastings.

* Include the Baby is a first-time starter trained by Jim Penney for owners Amy and Mike Feuerborn. The Feuerborns bred her in Kentucky, mating their former stable star Bianconi Baby, winner of the 2004 Washington Oaks, with promising stallion Include, a Grade 1 winner of more than $1.6 million. Bianconi Baby won her debut by 10 lengths, but her career was cut short when she suffered a leg fracture in her stall after winning the Oaks. Include the Baby is her first foal.

* Rewritten raced four times at 2 for owner Ron Crockett, president of Emerald Downs. Trained by Frank Lucarelli, she was second in the one-mile Barbara Shinpoch Stakes, third in the six-furlong Angie C., and fourth against males in the 1 1/16-mile Gottstein Futurity.

* Thank You Will Do, a first-time starter trained by Chris Stenslie, has been a morning sensation, routinely working faster than heralded 3-year-old stablemate Hollywood Harbor. By Delineator, one of the state's top stallions, Thank You Will Do was a $14,000 yearling purchase at the 2008 summer sale.

* Last Blast finished second in both of her starts at 2, including the 5 1/2-furlong Knights Choice Stakes last July. She is trained by Mike Puhich for owners Ron Schmid and Eric Brewe.

* Orientates Storm, a $40,000 Keeneland weanling purchase, will make her first start for Belvoir, her new trainer, after failing to hit the board in two starts at 2. She is by champion sprinter Orientate, winner of the 2002 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

First post is 2 p.m.