Mikayla's Baby seeks better start

Mikayla's Baby, Manitoba's top juvenile colt last year, takes on six foes and looks to get back to his winning ways in Saturday's Harry Jeffrey after having his four-race win streak snapped in the Golden Boy at Assiniboia Downs.

The Harry Jeffrey is a scale-weight stakes for 3-year-olds going a flat mile and offers a purse of $30,000.

Trainer Aaron Sayler has added blinkers to Mikayla's Baby for the first time in hopes of getting his charge into the race a little earlier.

Mikayla's Baby was unbeaten here at age 2 and capped off his perfect 4-for-4 season with a 9 3/4-length win in the Winnipeg Futurity at the Jeffrey distance.

In his first start of 2008, Mikayla's Baby did not fire from the starting gate and was seventh at the first call in the six-furlong Golden Boy.

However, Mikayla's Baby did show the added dimension of being able to close ground and ran very well down the lane to be beaten just 1 1/4 lengths by the Stampede Park invader It's Launch Time.

Trainer Jamie Ness brings in Best Westerner and, given the trainer's record of 4 wins and 4 seconds from his first 8 local starts, this Tampa Bay Downs runner must be respected.

Best Westerner has not been worse than fourth in six starts in Florida this year and has two wins, a one-mile maiden score on the turf and a six-furlong conditioned allowance victory in his most recent start, on April 23.

Best Westerner generally runs from just off the pace but may find himself setting the fractions if Mikayla's Baby does not pop out of the gate.

Mr Exspeedient and From the Hill ran third and fourth, respectively, in the Golden Boy after each won a conditioned allowance race in his previous start.

Mr Exspeedient was losing ground to the top pair in the final sixteenth of a mile, while From the Hill closed 3 1/4 lengths in the final quarter to be beaten by just two lengths.