Spot favors Dressed for Action

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Speed was the dominant style in Woodbine's turf sprints last week. If the trend continues, it should aid stakes winner Dressed for Action in Wednesday's feature.

A field of seven fillies and mares was drawn for the optional $80,000 claimer, which will be run at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Dressed for Action, a 4-year-old trained by Tony Mattine, won her first stakes last summer over this course, in the 6 1/2-furlong Ontario Damsel. She also finished second in the 2003 Bold Ruckus Stakes.

Dressed for Action has hit the board in all three of her races this year. She was a half-length back of Miss Grindstone in second when she came off the sidelines May 9 in a second-level allowance.

Dressed for Action won her second stakes, the Adena Springs Matchmaker, June 13 at Fort Erie, earning a lifetime-best 85 Beyer Figure. Most recently, she was third in the Rainbow Connection, another five-furlong turf stakes at the Fort.

Leading rider Todd Kabel has the mount on Dressed for Action.

Other contenders in Wednesday's headliner include Marisa Go, Askforaraise, and Huntingthetruth.

Marisa Go should be competitive at a square price. Victorious in the 2002 Zadracarta Stakes, Marisa Go is winless in her last 12 starts, but her most recent grass race, July 11, was one of her best. In that six-furlong allowance, she finished fourth behind Hour of Justice, Heyahohowdy, and Mille Feville. Hour of Justice came back to capture the Grade 3 Royal North Handicap in a romp, and Heyahohowdy subsequently ran second in the Victoriana Stakes.

Askforaraise was a wide third in a seven-furlong dash at this level in her only local outing July 23. She was previously sixth after a tardy break in the five-furlong Cool Air Stakes at Calder.

Askforaraise, who placed in several turf stakes at Calder and Tampa in 2003, worked five-eighths in 1:01.20 on the main track last week at Fort Erie for trainer Justin Nixon.

Nixon also conditions Huntingthetruth, who has won her last four races, all at six furlongs on the dirt. She has a win from two career attempts on the grass. That score came in a one-mile preliminary allowance in the spring of 2003 at Fort Erie.