LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bettors should have fun handicapping Friday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs. The field is comprised of 12 3-year-old fillies, 10 of whom are coming off wins in their most recent starts at six different tracks. Eclatant would be a worthy favorite, but taking a short price on anyone in this group is inadvisable. Eclatant’s lone defeat from four starts came to her stablemate, Good Cheer, the unbeaten filly who figures to go off favored in Friday’s $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks. Eclatant then made a winning 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Forward Gal at Gulfstream Park, a race that produced three next-out winners and three next-out second-place finishes. Trainer Brad Cox had to scratch Eclatant out of the Beaumont at Keeneland on April 6 due to a temperature. “It resolved itself very quickly,” Cox said. “She’s been working very well. She’s a great work horse. I expect her to run big. The draw [post 12] is a little outside, but that’s okay.” :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. Verity, trained by Eoin Harty, won the Grade 2 Beaumont by 5 1/4 lengths over a sealed, sloppy Keeneland track. There is some rain in the forecast for Friday, which could aid her cause. Impulse Buy, trained by Rodolphe Brisset, won the Fern Creek Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths at Churchill last Nov. 30 but hasn’t run since. “She’s a bit of a light-framed filly, so we knew she was going to come around pretty quick,” Brisset said. “I didn’t really know we were going to run until two weeks ago when she worked [five furlongs] in 59-and-four.” Mendela has made eye-catching moves in her first two starts and is a live longshot in here. She’s veered in during the stretch run of both starts, a narrow maiden defeat followed by a 6 3/4-length victory. If she can maintain a straight path under Rafael Bejarano on Friday, she’s capable of pulling an upset for trainer Chris Hartman. Bourbon Money, trained by Brendan Walsh, is 4 for 4, but all of her wins have come over Turfway Park’s Polytrack. “We brought her down here and gave her a couple of works on the dirt to see if she liked the dirt, and she loved it,” Walsh said. “She seems like she really gets over it good, so we’re going to take a shot with her.” Blue Fire, trained by Steve Asmussen, steps into open company after winning four of five starts – with three of the wins coming in stakes – against Louisiana-breds at Fair Grounds. “Obviously good at winning, solid numbers,” Asmussen said. “It sticks out that her one-turn races were faster, and I think backing her up to seven-eighths will be right in her wheelhouse.” Unchained Elaine, fourth to Eclatant in the Forward Gal, came back to win the Any Limit Stakes at Gulfstream. Evanescence won a first-level allowance at Keeneland on April 7. Princess Aliyah wheels back 12 days after winning the Valley of the Vapors at Oaklawn for D. Wayne Lukas, while Kimchi Cat won the Purple Martin Stakes at Oaklawn last out. Look Forward turns back to seven furlongs, the distance at which she won the Santa Ynez at Santa Anita on Jan. 5. She didn’t run well going two turns in the Grade 3 Honeybee and Grade 1 Ashland. Whatintheliteral, most recently fourth in the Gulfstream Park Oaks, rounds out the field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.