'Majestic' looks to start new streak

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Majestic Dinner should be the lukewarm favorite at Thistle-down on Sunday, where he will face 11 of his Ohio-bred peers, including two stable couplings, in the 23rd George Lewis Memorial Stakes, a $50,000 race for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.

Majestic Dinner, owned by the Pyrite Stables, returns to the flat after having his five-race winning streak snapped in the Gendelman Stakes over the grass at River Downs on June 23. Before that, he won his other two 2002 starts, a middle-distance allowance at Moun-taineer and a six-furlong Optional at Tampa Bay Downs. He was a triple stakes winner last year and was a fast-closing fourth in this race after hopping at the start.

Majestic Dinner likes to run on or near the lead. Ricardo Feliciano will ride for his uncle Miguel Feliciano. He carries 116 pounds and will race coupled with the same owner's Fervent Affair, who won the race in 2001.

Main opposition for Majestic Dinner should come from Devil Time and Bad Little Fellow.

Devil Time won the Gendelman and was second in an optional claimer at Churchill Downs in his other start this year. He was the runner-up to Majestic Dinner in the Best of Ohio Endurance last fall and should be a major factor.

Justin Vitek has the mount. The David Carroll trainee will carry 120 pounds.

Bad Little Fellow put on a strong stretch rally to post a half-length driving victory in the Cleveland Gold Cup, going today's distance in his last trip on July 4.

He will be racing with older horses today but has already proven that he can handle them. Jeffrey Skerrett will ride Bad Little Fellow at 114 pounds. Jerry S. Sparks trains.

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