HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Principal Anita will be powered by women on Thursday at Oaklawn Park, where she will attempt to win her division’s richest race, the $150,000 Natural State Breeders’ Stakes. Trainer Tammy Hornsby has given the mount to Amanda Poston, who will be aboard for Laura Juels, wife of Principal Anita’s late breeder, Woody Juels, and Taylor Hornsby, the daughter of Tammy Hornsby. The Natural State is a one-mile offering for fillies and mares bred in Arkansas. It is for 3-year-olds and up, and the field of 10 includes defending winner Lassie My Girl and the last two winners of the Rainbow Miss, Walk Away Kaye and Caliente Star. The Natural State is the first of five stakes to be run over the final three-day stretch of the Oaklawn meet that ends Saturday. Principal Anita is one of several capable runners in a competitive field Thursday. She was third in a first-level allowance over 1 1/16 miles in her most recent out April 12. Principal Anita raced close to the pace but likely will be making her case in the later stages Thursday. :: Live racing action at Oaklawn Park! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “Last time, we had her a little fresh, and she does better coming off it,” Tammy Hornsby said. “I had her a little too fresh. I had added blinkers. I took them back off [for this race], just trying to make some changes. I had her up a little too close last time, and she just didn’t finish like she normally does.” Principal Anita will break from post 6 in the Natural State. “I’d like for it to be real quick up front and her sitting five, six lengths back or even a little more, and then make a good run,” Tammy Hornsby said. “There’s a fair amount [in the field] that have sprinted and haven’t really gone a distance. She’s got good air. We’re a two-turn horse.” There are five horses going sprint to route in the Natural State, led by Walk Away Kaye. She won the Rainbow Miss over six furlongs last out, and earlier in the meet was second in the Astral Spa overnight sprint stakes won by eventual Kentucky Oaks entrant Counting Stars. Walk Away Kaye is making her two-turn debut and her dam, Andrea’s Pride, is by stamina source Gio Ponti. Erik Asmussen has the mount from post 3 for JRita Young Thoroughbreds and trainer Danny Pish. Cur Non is another moving to two turns for the first time, and she enters off a pair of front-running sprint wins at Oaklawn. One Way or Another also goes sprint to route after winning back-to-back sprints at Oaklawn, while Queen Mallard conquered two turns in her first attempt last out in an allowance route over respective second- and third-place finishers Gold Strategy and Principal Anita. Principal Anita is part of a 12-horse stable Tammy Hornsby has at Oaklawn. Following the close of the meet, she said the stable will head to Fairmount Park. ◗ Sonny Ray Williams, a prominent jockey in the 1940s and 1950s who spent time training, died April 20 in Hot Springs, Ark., friends said. He was 96, according to an obituary from Gross Funeral Home, which notes a celebration of life is being planned for May. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.