Pro Pink leads Robertson's female pack

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Mac Robertson's colts delivered last week at Oaklawn Park, with Win Willy taking a first-level allowance so impressively that his connections are now debating a start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel.

Thursday, the barn's fillies are on deck. Robertson has representatives in all three high-end filly-and-mare sprints on the card, led by Pro Pink in the featured ninth. A $75,000 optional claimer with third-level allowance conditions, the six-furlong race also drew the 3-year-old Bon Jovi Girl, a multiple stakes winner and half-sister to Grade 2 winner Gio Ponti.

Pro Pink, who is 2 for 4 at Oaklawn, will be making her first start since June. Robertson said he feels good about her fitness leading into her 5-year-old debut Thursday.

"She's ready," he said. "She likes the track here, and she's trained awful good here.

"I like her. I think she'll run well."

Pro Pink tends to run big fresh. She won an allowance last February at Oaklawn following a layoff of more than five months, then captured the $50,000 Hoist Her Flag at Canterbury after a two-month freshening in May. In her final prep for her return, Pro Pink breezed five furlongs in a strong 1:01.80 on Feb. 22.

"She needed a break," Robertson said of the layoff. "She won a couple races earlier in the year and got turned out for 100 days."

Pro Pink last raced at Arlington, and finished eighth to multiple Grade 2 winner Leah's Secret in the Grade 3 Chicago Breeders' Cup after setting a hot pace. That race came at seven furlongs, and Robertson said he likes the move back to six furlongs. Pro Pink's last three wins have come at the distance, including the Hoist Her Flag, for which she earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 92.

Robertson said Pro Pink could return to the stakes ranks next month, in the $50,000 Carousel. Israel Ocampo has the mount on the Joseph Novogratz-owned mare, who might get a nice stalking trip behind several front-runners, including Amazing Tale.

Chick Fight goes for Robertson in the second, a $40,000 optional claimer. It will be her first start since a 10-length romp in the $60,000 Northern Lights Debutante at Canterbury in August.

"She was impressive last year against Minnesota-breds. We'll see how she does against these," Robertson said of the race, which could send her to the $50,000 Prima Donna at Oaklawn.

Pterodactyls Rule is in the seventh, a $55,000 optional claimer, for Robertson.