Rain Song goes for five in row

Philadelphia Park-based short sprint specialist Rain Song will put her four-race winning streak on the line when she faces the sharp Kentucky filly She's That Cat in Tuesday night's $75,000 Hancock County Handicap at Mountaineer Race Track.

The five-furlong stakes, which goes as race 9 on a 10-race card, drew a field of eight fillies and mares.

Four of the horses will be making their first start at Mountaineer, including the 5-year-old Rain Song, who has won her last four races, all at distances ranging from 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 furlongs, by a combined margin of 28 1/4 lengths. Each of those victories was achieved in wire-to-wire fashion, with Beyer Speed Figures between 97 and 104.

In her first start of the season on May 6, Rain Song easily defeated four rivals in the 4 1/2-furlong West Virginia Distaff at Charles Town. Claimed out of her career debut in November 2004 for $25,000 by trainer Scott Lake, Rain Song is 6 for 10 lifetime.

Her biggest threat appears to be She's That Cat, a 4-year-old based at Churchill Downs with trainer Steve Flint, who has been winning with almost everything he has sent to Mountaineer this season. In eight local starts, Flint's horses have registered five wins and two seconds.

That includes back-to-back dominant wins by She's That Cat in March and April.

She's That Cat returns to Mountaineer and cuts back in distance after flashing speed and tiring in a six-furlong optional claimer at Churchill two weeks ago.

Triple Fantasy has been keeping stakes company in Kentucky, where she was beaten less than two lengths two starts back at 18-1 at Turfway Park.

Although two of her three lifetime wins have come on grass, Triple Fantasy displayed good early speed in two sprints over Polytrack at Turfway this past winter.

No Affair and Shiny Dancer have both had success in short sprints at Mountaineer, but neither horse has displayed her best form recently.

No Affair, 3 for 5 in races from 5 to 5 1/2 furlongs locally, makes her third start of her current form cycle after two off-the-board finishes. Shiny Dancer is a five-time winner the past two seasons, including a wire-to-wire victory locally in March, but has been beaten a combined 42 1/4 lengths in her last two starts.