Right Distaff for Take D' Tour

MIAMI - It wasn't long ago that trainer David Fawkes had contemplated starting Take D' Tour in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Instead he has chosen a significantly softer spot for his Grade 1 winner - Saturday's $200,000 Elmer Heubeck Distaff Handicap at Calder.

Take D' Tour is the marquee name entered in the eight stakes races that make up the $1.2 million Florida Millions Day program for state breds at Calder. A 5-year-old daughter of Tour d'Or, Take D' Tour moved near the top of the national filly and mare handicap division earlier this year after completing a four-race win streak including one-sided victories in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps and Grade 2 Shuvee handicaps at Belmont Park. But she has since gone winless in three starts, all Grade 1 races, prompting Fawkes to look for something a little less ambitious than the BC Distaff in an attempt to get Take D' Tour back on the winning track.

"Obviously, this is an easier group than what we would have faced in the Distaff, and looking at the early fractions of that race, I think I made the right decision," said Fawkes. "I'm throwing her out her race in the Beldame. She just wasn't there that day. I think she might have bounced a bit off her tremendous effort in the Ruffian four weeks earlier."

Take D' Tour set the pace before dropping a two-length decision to Pool Land as the 3-2 favorite in the Ruffian. But she did not beat a horse after contesting a torrid early pace in the 1 1/8-mile Beldame.

The big question regarding Take D' Tour is her ability to win around two turns. Each of her last six wins, including the Phipps and Shuvee, was in a one-turn race.

"She's trained extremely well and relaxed nicely around two turns here since the Beldame," said Fawkes. "Naturally, the weight is a concern on Saturday, but she's a big, heavy mare and should handle it."

Take D' Tour will carry high weight of 123 pounds in the 1 1/16-mile Elmer Heubeck, conceding her eight rivals from seven to 13 pounds.

Sunset Kisses may have the best chance of springing an upset if Take D' Tour cannot handle the two turns or the expected pace pressure from Running Lass. Sunset Kisses won an overnight stakes after shipping in from Chicago before finishing a distant second behind Darluna in the Shocker T Handicap on Oct. 14.

Unlike the Elmer Heubeck, the $200,000 Carl G. Rose Classic appears to be a wide-open race - with 3-year-olds Big Lover and Rehoboth likely to vie for favoritism.

Big Lover and Rehoboth finished second and third behind Nkoski Reigns in the Grade 3 Spend a Buck Handicap on Oct. 14 and they will meet for the fourth time in the 1 1/8-mile Carl G. Rose.

Trained Angel Salinas, Big Lover has won 4 of his last 8 starts, while Rehoboth had his modest two-race win streak snapped in the Spend a Buck.

Midwest invader Summer Book, with jockey Edgar Prado aboard, figures to command respect, dropping into easier company off a series of graded stakes tries, while Too Many Toyz will try to duplicate the 104 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in winning a softer second-level allowance race in his last start.

Supervisor, winless in seven starts since he was beaten a head by stablemate Whos Crying Now in the 2005 Carl G. Rose, could be the sleeper.

Revved Up, another nationally prominent performer, will be an odds-on favorite to successfully defend his title in the $150,000 Bonnie Heath Turf Cup Handicap.

Revved Up, 8, has captured 4 of his 5 starts in 2006, including Keeneland's Grade 3 Sycamore Breeders' Cup at 1 1/2 miles. Trained by Christophe Clement for the Live Oak Plantation, Revved Up rallied to a 2 1/2-length victory over the favored Silver Tree in the 2005 Bonnie Heath.

Revved Up will carry high weight of 123 pounds, conceding up to 12 pounds in a full field that includes trainer Michael Dickinson's Rock Lobster, the veteran Stormy Roman, and the hard-knocking Magic Mecke.

The $150,000 Jack Dudley Sprint Handicap at six furlongs drew a well-matched field of 10 led by Weigelia and Mister Fotis who finished first and second in this race a year ago.

Weigelia, third here earlier this season in the Grade 2 Smile Sprint, led at every call to beat the fast-closing Mister Fotis by 2 1/2 lengths in the 2005 Jack Dudley. Mister Fotis bounced back from that setback to win the Kenny Noe Jr. Handicap by nearly seven lengths in his next start and the Grade 2 Richter Scale Handicap at Gulfstream during the winter.

Silkily, second in all three legs of the filly division of the Florida Stallion Stakes, should be favored to win the $150,000 Joe O'Farrell Juvenile Fillies in a field that includes the unbeaten Secretsoftheheart and Even Road.

Pay Wright ships to town off a one-sided victory in the Salem County on grass at the Meadowlands and heads a field of 11 in the $100,000 John Franks Juvenile Fillies Turf. Her stiffest opposition may come from the undefeated Pretoria Light.

Villainage will make his grass debut in the $100,000 Arthur Appleton Juvenile Turf, and is part of a full field that includes trainer William Kaplan's dangerous entry of Storm in May and Imawildandcrazyguy.