Oh So Easy benefits from surface change

Oh So Easy, one of the top Ohio-bred fillies of recent years, holds a strong class advantage over her seven rivals in Sunday's $40,000 Ms. Southern Ohio at River Downs in Cincinnati.

The Ms. Southern Ohio, traditionally run at 1 1/16 miles on turf, was switched to the main track before entries were taken Thursday. Turf racing was discontinued in the past week due to wear and tear on the backside of the course. The trouble spots are being sodded, according to racing secretary Ed Vomacka, and turf racing is expected to resume next weekend.

Oh So Easy would have been difficult to beat if the Ms. Southern Ohio had been run on the turf, but the decision to run the race on the main track, Oh So Easy's preferred surface, makes the possibility of an upset more remote.

A four-time stakes winner during the past year, Oh So Easy holds the distinction of winning at least one stakes at all three of Ohio's Thoroughbred racetracks. She recently completed the feat with a comfortable 2 3/4-length score in the nine-furlong Rose DeBartolo Memorial at Thistledown on July 17.

If Oh So Easy has a weakness, it might be her inconsistency on the main track here, where she has finished out of the money twice in three starts. Several of her opponents have had multiple wins over the surface, including Glorado, who finished three-quarters of a length behind Oh So Easy in a stakes at Beulah Park last October.