Rematch of '09 Oaks on tap

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Milwaukee Appeal and Tasty Temptation, the top two finishers in the 2009 Woodbine Oaks, will clash in

Sunday's $100,000 Hill 'n' Dale Stakes for fillies and mares. In addition to the usual prize money, the first three finishers will receive a breeding season to one of three Hill 'n' Dale Farm Kentucky stallions: Zensational, Roman Ruler, or Heatseeker.

Milwaukee Appeal won the Sovereign Award for champion 3-year-old filly in Canada last year on the strength of her Oaks score and consistent record in an array of important stakes.

In her lone outing this year going a mile on the dirt at Belmont May 15, Milwaukee Appeal wound up third after racing in fourth most of the way in the Grade 2 Shuvee

Handicap. Trainer Scott Fairlie said he was pleased with her comeback race.

"I thought she ran very well," said Fairlie. "With such slow fractions, she should have been closer to the pace. If she was more forwardly placed like I thought she would be, I think she could have possibly been second. She dug in through the lane, and didn't stop running."

Tasty Temptation notched her first stakes over 1 1/4 miles on the grass last July in the Wonder Where, after which she went to the sidelines. Trainer Mark Casse said that she had been in training for a long time before that event and was in need of a vacation.

"She didn't bounce out of it the way I wanted her to, so we decided to give her the rest of the year off." Casse recalled. "She went home to Florida, and spent most of the winter in a paddock right outside my house. We gave her some time and brought her back around the first of January. From then, she seemed to be happier, bigger, and stronger. When we started to breeze her, she trained even better than she did as a 3-year-old."

Tasty Temptation captured both of her races here this year, in an optional-claiming sprint and in the 1 1/16-mile allowance prep for the Hill 'n' Dale, for which she earned a co-career high 94 Beyer Figure.

"Her last race was a big race," said Casse. "She looped the field, and what amazed me when she came back to the winner's circle was how little it took out of her."