Summerly gets post 2 for Oaks

NEW ORLEANS - Silverbulletday winner drew post 2 and was named the 7-5 favorite Wednesday for the Grade 2, $300,000 Fair Grounds Oaks, where she will meet Runway Model, who beat Summerly last fall in the Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs.

"Great post," said Steve Asmussen, who has given the call on Summerly to jockey Jerry Bailey.

Earlier this week, Asmussen talked about Summerly's loss to Runway Model in the Golden Rod.

"They were at different stages of their career then," he said. "[Runway Model] was coming off of a third in the Breeders' Cup and we'd just broken our maiden."

Four others will go in the Oaks, which will be run at 1 1/16 miles and be part of a $250,000-guaranteed all-stakes pick four that also includes the Louisiana Derby, New Orleans Handicap, and Marie Krantz Memorial Handicap. Completing the field are Eyes on Eddy and Enduring Will, second and third in the Silverbulletday; Carlea; and Soul Search.

After recovering from a respiratory infection, Eyes on Eddy improved dramatically in the Silverbulletday. She further indicated her sharpness by breezing a bullet five furlongs in 59.80 seconds in her most recent work. The late-running Enduring Will has been improving steadily; Carlea has finished worse than second in only one of five starts; and longshot Soul Search looked spectacular earlier in the meet winning her maiden.

"She obviously needs a mile and an eighth," said trainer Neil Howard of Soul Search, "but a mile and a sixteenth is all you're going to get right now and we didn't want to wait. The long stretch here is good for her."

Also Saturday, Bailey will ride Badge of Silver, the 2-1 favorite, from post 4 in the Grade 2, $500,000 New Orleans Handicap for older horses at 1 1/8 miles on the dirt. A 5-year-old trained by Bobby Frankel, Badge of Silver won the 2003 Risen Star at Fair Grounds and is training well after winning the Grade 3 Hal's Hope Handicap at Gulfstream last time out.

Wanderin Boy, Pollard's Vision and Alumni Hall, the one-two-three finishers in the Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds, are all back for this one. Also expected are Colonial Colony, Limehouse, Freefourinternet, Musique Toujours, and Second of June.

"We know this is going to be tougher," said Nick Zito, who trains Wanderin Boy. "It always gets tougher when you have this kind of money on the line."