Stakes wins on resumes of two fillies

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Malika's Gold is one of two stakes winners who will be making their 3-year-old debuts Thursday in the featured ninth race at Oaklawn Park. The two-other-than allowance for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs also drew Queansco, a stakes winner who will add Lasix for her first race since last fall.

won two of four starts last year, with her biggest score a front-running win in the $100,000 La Senorita at one mile on turf at Retama Park on Sept. 4. One start prior, Malika's Gold won her career debut in a five-furlong race at Canterbury Park. She has not raced since an eighth-place finish in the $40,000 E.L. Gaylord Memorial at Remington Park on Nov. 26.

"We gave her a little time," said Randy Oberlander, who trains Malika's Gold for Tim Hoese. "We expect good things out of her this summer. I'm going to go to Prairie Meadows [after Oaklawn], and there's several 3-year-old filly stakes up there we can run in."

Malika's Gold has natural speed and shows a strong series of works for her return. She drilled a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.20 on March 13, then had a four-furlong blowout in 48.60 seconds on Monday.

Oberlander looks for her to be close to the pace Thursday.

"It depends on how the race sets up, but she's always shown enough early speed where, hopefully, she can just lay off the speed," he said. "And if there's not a lot of speed, she might be the speed."

Cliff Berry has the mount on Malika's Gold, who is a daughter of Gold Case.

won the $80,000 Iowa Sorority for statebreds at Prairie Meadows in August. She last raced on Sept. 19, when she finished eighth in the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Lassie at Arlington Park.

Queansco shows a bullet five-furlong work and a blowout for her return. Trainer Tim Gleason has given the mount to Tim Doocy.

Thursday's field is completed by , an impressive allowance winner; Loramateal, third last time to the fast True Tails; Fast Baby, who returns to racing with fillies after facing colts; Okie Nicole, a half-sister to millionaire Bien Nicole; and Silky Baby, from the high-percentage barn of trainer Steve Asmussen.

Swede wired a field of entry-level allowance foes on Feb. 16 in her last start.