Poivre a stickout in top-quality field

NEW YORK - Thursday's feature at Aqueduct could easily be mistaken for a winter stakes.

Stakes winners Lovely Amanda and Fickle Fanny are among seven older fillies and mares entered in the $52,000 classified allowance.

Inner track specialists Poivre and Folly Dollar, and Betty's Hat, Cantkeepfromsingin, and La Galerie were also entered in this six-furlong race, which could turn out to be a prep for the $75,000-added Correction on Feb. 2 for some of the field.

Poivre is difficult to go against. Scratched from last Saturday's 1 1/16-mile Affectionately, Poivre is as honest as they come over the Big A's inner track, with four wins from five starts.

Poivre, an 8-year-old, won her last start in a classified allowance race on Dec. 20 when she survived a stretch-long duel with Major Wager. Poivre motored away in the final yards for a 1 1/2-length win in the six-furlong race.

C. C. Lopez returns on Poivre, who figures to stalk the early leaders, Folly Dollar and Lovely Amanda. Poivre drew post 3.

Fickle Fanny, who won the Correction Handicap last year over the inner track, was fifth and last in the race Poivre won. Fickle Fanny, a New York-bred, is likely to improve off that effort, which was her first start since April 28.

Apprentice Lorenzo Lezcano has the mount on Fickle Fanny, who is trained by Richard Schosberg.

Last winter, Folly Dollar won three starts over the inner surface. If she is as good now as she was then, Folly Dollar should be in the mix. In her last start on Jan. 1, Folly Dollar finished fourth in the Interborough Handicap, which was won by the fleet-footed Xtra Heat. Folly Dollar didn't show her customary early speed that day, but she figures to be a pace factor here, especially without a speedball like Xtra Heat in the field.

Shaun Bridgmohan rides Folly Dollar, who drew post 2.

Lovely Amanda, a New York-bred, drops back in distance after winning the 1 1/8-mile Montauk, a restricted stakes, by 7 3/4 lengths over Aqueduct's main track last month.

Lovely Amanda has been effective at sprint distances for trainer Todd Pletcher but is light on inner track experience. Pletcher's mare finished seventh in her only start over the inner track last winter. Javier Castellano has the mount.

Cantkeepfromsingin, a winner of 5 of 10 lifetime starts, ships in from trainer Alan Goldberg's training center in New Jersey. Cantkeepfromsingin has won her last three starts, including a classified allowance race at Aqueduct in November.

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