Skewing a logical contender

AUBURN, Wash. - A highly competitive band of six 3-year-old fillies will vie in Saturday's Emerald Downs feature, a six-furlong test for $32,000 claimers.

Skewing seems sure to figure strongly in the calculations of most handicappers, as she outfinished three of her Saturday rivals in a six-furlong test for $50,000 optional claimers on Sept. 2. Skewing, a daughter of Skimming from the barn of trainer Roy Lumm, ran third in that race, beaten just a length by Judicature and Carrie's Choice, who finished a head apart in first and second in 1:09.20.

Skewing returned to finish seventh in the one-mile John and Kitty Fletcher Stakes on last Sunday's Washington Cup program, but she will be returning to a sprint while dropping in class on Saturday. She will also be coming back in just six days, but Lumm has done very well with that tactic over the last two seasons. Of the 28 Lumm trainees who have returned within a week, six have won for a success rate of 21 percent.

Angie's Top Dot finished just a neck behind Skewing when fourth on Sept. 2 and wouldn't need much improvement to turn the tables. Angie's Top Dot won for a $32,000 tag in her seasonal debut on June 24, when she got six furlongs in 1:09.

Reba Is Tops finished sixth, beaten 5 1/4 lengths in the common race, but she was coming off a layoff of almost two months. Reba Is Tops had won two in a row before her freshening and may be poised to regain her winning stride.