Slam the Cat goes for four in a row

ELMONT, N.Y. - Pace makes the race in Wednesday's Jersey Girl overnight stakes for 3-year-old fillies as Slam the Cat steps up seeking her fourth straight win.

Slam the Cat set or pressed progressively faster half-mile times sweeping her first three starts of the season: 46.28 seconds wiring maiden claimers off a six-month layoff, 45.90 in a starter allowance, and a blistering 44.78 in a first-level allowance.

"Sometimes you get a good race under their belt and they get some confidence and go back up the scale," said trainer John Kimmel, who ran the Grand Slam filly for $35,000 with no takers in an off-the-turf sprint first time back. "It was a calculated risk . . . she's actually improved more dramatically than I thought."

Slam the Cat drew post 2, inside Dattts Lady Di and Union City, who are each 2 for 2 when leading at the first call but a combined 0 for 5 when they don't get to the front.

"She's going to have to come out of there pretty forwardly and see what happens, plus there's another half-furlong to contend with," said Kimmel, noting the 6 1/2-furlong distance of the Jersey Girl. "But she's doing really well, and I'm expecting another good performance."

Dattts Lady Di (post 4) was never headed winning maiden and first-level conditions earlier at the meet for trainer Mark Hennig. Union City, who chased blazing fractions in the $200,000 Jostle Stakes last out for Tony Dutrow, may have some tactical options breaking from outside in a field of five.

The beneficiaries of a hotly contested pace would be Kiddari and Olde Glamour.

Kiddari comes off maiden and first-level allowance wins out of the chute at Churchill Downs for Bill Mott. She will be cutting back from seven-eighths.

The New York-bred Olde Glamour has been first or second in all eight starts this season.

The Jersey Girl is race 8 and the penultimate leg in a pick six with a one-day carryover of $63,720.

The sequence begins with race 4, a five-furlong dash for juvenile fillies, all of which are first-time starters. Among the well-connected newcomers in a potentially loaded race are Taboo, a $235,000 purchase in February; Dattt Echo, a half-sister to Mani Bhavan, last year's Adirondack and Spinaway winner; Genuine Charm, a $350,000 yearling buy; and Union Waters, like Union City a Ned Evans homebred by Dixie Union.