Valley View a doubly tough pick

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Solving the late pick four Friday at Keeneland might only be a bit more difficult than herding cats. Two divisions of the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes make up half of the sequence, and neither split appears to have anything remotely resembling a single.

A guaranteed pool of $200,000 in the late pick four (races 7-10) is a pot-sweetener on an afternoon that probably could go without one. With a combined 25 3-year-old fillies in the Valley View (races 7 and 9), the competition runs extraordinarily deep. Where to start?

The Woodbine-based Forest Uproar, one of the many viable contenders in the $125,000 second division of the 1 1/16-mile turf race, seems as good as any, especially considering the graded stakes success that Canadian shippers have had so far at the Keeneland fall meet. Forest Uproar, with Robert Landry in from Woodbine to ride for trainer Mark Frostad, has not been worse than third in five career tries, including three turf stakes.

"She always seems to show up and run well," Frostad said from Toronto. "We're sending her down there on her way to New Orleans. We thought we'd give this a shot."

Horses with Woodbine ties have fared well at this meet, with Negligee winning the Alcibiades, Fatal Bullet taking the Phoenix, and El Brujo capturing the Perryville.

Other fillies with solid credentials in the second division include Afternoon Stroll, winner of the in her last start.

The $125,000 first division sports similar depth. Silver Reunion, with Ramon Dominguez back to ride, easily won an overnight stakes, the and Lake Placid.

The other two races in the late pick four (50-cent minimum) also drew full fields of 12, with filly-mare allowance sprinters clashing in the eighth and $25,000 claiming fillies making up the 10th. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.