Rite Moment vs. Carriage Trail in Shuvee

ELMONT, N.Y. - Recent graded stakes winners Rite Moment and Carriage Trail head a prospective field of six to nine fillies and mares eyeing Saturday's one-mile Shuvee Handicap.

Rite Moment (119 pounds) has won 5 of 6 starts this year for Winning Move Stable and trainer Gary Contessa, and will be gunning for her third straight Grade 2 victory after wins in the six-furlong Distaff and seven-furlong Bed o' Roses.

Carriage Trail and Moon Catcher (both 117) are the only nominees to have earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. Carriage Trail earned a 100 winning the Doubledogdare last out for trainer Shug McGaughey. Moon Catcher, a possible starter who worked five furlongs in 1:03.70 on the main track Wednesday, also reached the 100 mark - winning the Delaware Oaks last July.

Cowgirls Don't Cry, Linda May, and Striking Tomisue are also expected to run. Scatkey and Stage Luck are possible, and trainer Tony Dutrow may run either Fancy Diamond or Officer in Pursuit.

Factual Contender faces Rewrite

Factual Contender and Rewrite, who traded close decisions in turf stakes here last fall, will be the ones to beat in Sunday's Mount Vernon Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares.

Factual Contender counted the Mount Vernon among her three stakes wins in four starts at Belmont in 2007, the lone defeat coming by a neck to Rewrite in the Ticonderoga. Factual Contender, third in the Grade 3 Beaugay off a layoff, was assigned 122 pounds. Rewrite (121) has not raced since winning an overnight stakes at Aqueduct last fall. Also expected to run are Duchess of Rokeby, Higher Incentive, Jesse's Justice, Latitude Forty, Nedjma, Tamberino, and Them There Eyes.

Ready's Image wins comeback

Making his first start since being injured in the Champagne last fall, Ready's Image ($3.90) stalked the early pace under John Velazquez and outfinished second choice Desert Key to win Wednesday's $74,950 Adjudicating Stakes by three-quarters of a length. True Quality set the pace and held third, as the field of five 3-year-olds finished in pari-mutuel order.

Ready's Image ran the 6 1/2-furlongs in 1:16.68 over a fast main track, and improved to 4 for 7 for trainer Todd Pletcher, who said the immediate goal for the More Than Ready colt is the Woody Stephens on June 7.

Harlington nears season debut

Harlington, who has raced just twice since winning the Gulfstream Park Handicap in March 2006, continued to progress toward his first start as a 6-year-old by working six furlongs in 1:12.89 on Belmont's main track Wednesday. It was his fifth local workout for new trainer Tom Albertrani, following a series of breezes at owner Eugene Melynk's Winding Oaks Farm in Ocala.

"He had a good foundation when he came to New York," said Albertrani. "He worked really well, and we'll try to find a spot for him at the end of the month."

Harlington returned from a 370-day layoff to win a high-end optional claimer at Belmont last May for former trainer Todd Pletcher, but then was sidelined by a foot injury while pointing to the Suburban Handicap.

"He's come back well, and hopefully we'll have a good season with him," said Albertrani.

o Friday's card features the return of Fidelio, second to War Pass in a Saratoga allowance second time out. The Bobby Frankel-trained colt has been idle since running seventh in the Breeders' Futurity last fall. He drew the rail in race 7, a $55,000 allowance/optional claimer at seven furlongs.