Mountaineer: Ask the Lord vulnerable

The old-timer Ask the Lord will attempt to turn back the clock when he ships in from Kentucky for the $75,000 Slipton Fell Handicap at Mountaineer.

Now 9, Ask the Lord won the 2004 edition of the mile and 70-yard Slipton Fell by a length with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. He has lost 11 stakes races since then, however, and his Beyers have declined by roughly 20 points in two starts since he finished a close second in the Tejano Run at Turfway Park in March.

Summer Book, third at 26-1 in the Grade 3 National Jockey Club Handicap at Hawthorne two starts ago, and Seek Gold, one of two horses in the field previously trained by Nick Zito, both fit well in this spot.

Summer Book, trained by Niall O'Callaghan, most recently raced up close until the late stages of the 1 1/8-mile Schaefer Handicap, a Grade 3 race at Pimlico.

Seek Gold and stablemate Go Now will be making their first start since they were sold and transferred to the barn of Ron Moquett.

The 6-year-old Seek Gold won the Grade 3 Fred Hooper Handicap at Calder last December. In March, he finished second, 11 1/4 lengths in front of Summer Book, in the Challenger at Tampa Bay.