These fillies may soon be sprinting in stakes

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - It appears there is no shortage of 3-year-old fillies who sprint at Oaklawn. There are two high-end optional claimers for such horses here Sunday, with the second race led by Pro Pink, and the featured ninth drawing Classify, a winner of her last two starts, and the promising New Edition.

Pro Pink is a multiple stakes-placed filly who is a candidate for the Grade 3, $150,000 La Troienne at Churchill Downs on May 5, said her trainer, Jamie Sanders. She invades from Fair Grounds for a $75,000 optional claimer that has first-level allowance conditions. Pro Pink comes into the six-furlong race off a runner-up finish to Whatdreamsrmadeof in a first-level allowance Feb. 10.

"She ran a really big race," Sanders said of Pro Pink. "Whatdreamsrmadeof is a really reputable filly. I mean, she won by 9 3/4 first out, and then she was second in a big stakes. We were just second best that day."

Whatdreamsrmadeof, the runner-up last year in the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies, won the Fair Grounds race by 4 3/4 lengths over Pro Pink, and covered the six-furlong distance in a sharp 1:09.60.

Pro Pink is a strong closer, and three starts ago used her late run to finish second to Total in the $75,000 Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds. She will break from post 5 on Sunday under Stewart Elliott.

"It doesn't matter if she's last down the backside, she'll start picking them up about the three-eighths pole," said Sanders. "And she's got a heck of a kick. I think Stewart's got a lot of patience, and he'll ride her good."

New Edition is looking for her third win in the ninth, a $100,000 optional claimer that carries second-level allowance conditions. She has stepped up her game in the last month, and stalked her way to a 4 1/2-length win in a first-level allowance here Feb. 24. The third-place finisher in that race, Moon Catcher, came back to win an allowance race here on Friday.

"She's coming along real nice," said Larry Jones, who trains New Edition. "We've always been fond of her. She had a wonderful way of going, but she was just kind of narrow and didn't have the power to her that you would just love to see, especially for a sprint horse. But she's filling out with time, and she's doing very well."

New Edition will break from post 4 under Gabriel Saez. With a good performance, she could move into stakes company next month for the $75,000 Instant Racing Breeders' Cup at Oaklawn, said Jones.