Weather will shape My Fair Lady

Seven fillies and mares from some of the East's leading trainers are scheduled to gather at Suffolk Downs on Saturday for the $50,000 My Fair Lady Breeders' Cup, including a runner from reigning Eclipse Award champion Todd Pletcher.

Suffolk officials, fans, and bettors need to watch the weather, because ground conditions will determine how many of the out-of-towners make their way to Boston for the mile and 70-yard turf race.

Pletcher has sent only four horses to Suffolk, with two third-place finishes in 1999 his best results. His entrant on Saturday, Krasnaya, will try to rebound from a difficult trip in the Penny Memorial over soft turf at Philadelphia Park. She won an allowance race at Keeneland in April and hasn't seen a firm course in three starts. Chris DeCarlo, Pletcher's main jockey at Monmouth Park, is scheduled to ride.

While Pletcher rarely travels to New England, Christophe Clement has turned the region into his own private training yard. He has won seven major turf races at Rockingham Park and has won this race four times since 1997, including last year with Where We Left Off. Clement has two entrants this year in Cut Short and Aesculus, with the weather determining which one gets to make the trip.

"I like to race there because I like to win," said Clement. "It's as simple as that. When I send horses there, I'm always confident.

"It's a very competitive race," he added. "There are some others coming from some very good trainers. It's going to be a tough race, but depending on the rain, no matter what, we'll be sending a good filly."

Cut Short was second to Love Match in an optional claimer at Monmouth in July, and was flattered when that filly upset the Taylor Made Matchmaker there last Sunday. If there's no rain, Cut Short will get the call over Aesculus, a former handicap horse in England who has two wins on dirt since coming to the United States.

Plenty has notched her three career wins in wire-to-wire fashion, including an allowance victory at Belmont in her last start. Two races back, she faded to fourth behind Cut Short and another My Fair Lady entrant, Cupid's Arrow. All three were on the also-eligible list in the split De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga on Thursday. Cut Short and Plenty were scratched; Cupid's Arrow drew into the first division but failed to hit the board.

Other notable raiders include Becky in Pink, who has just one grass start and exits a double-digit loss in the Delaware Handicap on dirt. Previously she was second in the Del Cap prep, the Obeah, behind Isola Piu Bella.

Feelin' the Breeze comes from Maryland, where she was near the back of the pack in the Gallorette Handicap on Preakness Day in her only stakes attempt. She reunites with Taylor Hole, who rode her regularly this winter.

The local stars include British Event, with her 2-for-2 record over the Suffolk turf course. Trained by Charlie Assimakopoulos, she was third in the Sophomore Fillies sprint at Tampa Bay Downs this winter.

Lady Beelzebub, a multiple New England champion, returns home after failing to make an impact in the Klassy Briefcase turf sprint at Monmouth last time out.