Tough field for redrawn Grasmick

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Missy Can Do got an extra week's rest but also picked up an imposing rival in Tonight Rainbow as those two lead a field of eight in Sunday's $10,000 Grasmick Stakes at Fonner Park.

The Grasmick was originally carded for Feb. 18 but was rescheduled when live racing was scrapped that day because of cold weather. Back then, Missy Can Do was wheeling back off a victory in the Bold Accent Stakes against females on opening weekend to face males in the Grasmick on a short week of rest. Instead, she'll be coming into Sunday's half-mile race on two weeks' rest. On the other hand, she has to face Tonight Rainbow.

Tonight Rainbow, 7, ships in from his base at Will Rogers Downs and will attempt to gain a second victory in this race, which he won in 2004.

Tonight Rainbow likes Fonner Park, where he has a record of 7-1-3 from 15 starts. He won just one race last year, via a disqualification. Trainer Boyd Caster has Larren Delorme riding from post 3.

Missy Can Do drew post 8 with Armando Martinez aboard. She is nearly impossible to outrun in the opening quarter-mile, but she will need her best stuff late with Tonight Rainbow in the mix. Missy Can Do also likes the track, over which she is 6-3-3 from 14 starts.

Claydif, 7, from the barn of Tyrone Gleason, also wasn't originally in the Grasmick but was entered for Sunday and comes in off a 1 1/2-length win versus $6,500 claimers on opening weekend at Fonner.

Claydif won his last start in gate-to-wire fashion and could soften up Missy Can Do through the turn on this five-eighth-mile oval. R.D. Williams will ride from post 5.

The Straw Man, making his 4-year-old debut for trainer Ron Wise, bears watching in the stretch. He comes in off a 3-year-old season in which he won the Fonner Park Special and Nebraska Derby at Fonner Park, plus the State Fair Breeders' Stakes and State Fair Derby at Lincoln.

Regular rider Dennis Collins has the mount and they will break from post 6.