Take D'Tour back at a mile

CHICAGO - Even when Take D'Tour was going two turns on turf this summer at Arlington Park, her trainer, Tony Granitz, had his eye on a different kind of race.

"I ran her long three times, and I'd been wanting to run her a one-turn mile, the way she'd trained on dirt," said Granitz.

That chance came Aug. 19, and Take D'Tour was all that Granitz had hoped for, maybe even a little bit more. She battled on a hot pace, put away the other speed, and drew off to an eight-length win in an entry-level allowance, getting her mile in 1:35.60.

"She ran huge," Granitz said. "We even had some interest from California to buy the filly, but the owner is hanging tough right now," he said, referring to owner Alice Muller.

did it once - can she do it again? She returns a day shy of three weeks after her blowout win, taking on five rivals in the featured eighth race Thursday at Arlington, another one-turn mile, this for second-level allowance fillies.

was just claimed from a romp over $18,000 claimers, but has been soundly beaten in three starts with second-level allowance horses.

The other three in the race - Capistrano, The Bohemian Girl, and Ritzy - look better. Capistrano jumps up in class after winning an Illinois-bred entry-level allowance race in her last start, but is a lightly raced, steadily progressing filly. The Bohemian Girl, rested since July 23, and like Princess B G from the Hugh Robertson barn, uses a late-closing style that could prove effective if Ritzy, Take D'Tour, and Princess B G hook up on a hot pace. Ritzy, meanwhile, exits a seventh-place finish in the $100,000 Arlington Oaks. Ritzy might have been overmatched in the local Oaks, which was contested at nine furlongs, farther than Ritzy's best distance.

might go for the lead, but Take D'Tour appears faster. Granitz said he didn't breeze Take D'Tour between starts "because she'll work so fast," and said he believes Take D'Tour can avoid regressing.

"I'm hoping she goes forward," he said. "She's been doing really good."

It won't take vast improvement for Take D'Tour to win again. Simply running as fast as she did in her last start probably would suffice.