Is Whenthedoveflies traveling a furlong too far?

MIAMI - At five furlongs on the turf, Whenthedoveflies has established herself as the fastest horse in south Florida. But even trainer Kirk Ziadie isn't sure what to expect when he sends Whenthedoveflies six furlongs against 10 other fillies and mares in Sunday's $40,000 Golden Or Stakes.

Whenthedoveflies is a perfect 5 for 5 going five furlongs on grass, a streak that includes a game head victory against the boys in the Calder Turf Sprint Handicap July 10 as well as a track-record performance seven weeks earlier in the Cool Air Stakes. But the Golden Or will mark her first start since the Calder Turf and only her second try at six furlongs this season.

"This race isn't really my cup of tea, sending her six furlongs on the dirt under 122 pounds, but there has been nothing else for her, there's nothing in the next book on the grass, and she's got to run," said Ziadie, who trains Whenthedoveflies for the Kalacan Racing Stable. "I may eventually have to send her out of town after this race, which is really a shame because she's become a pretty popular horse down here when she races on the grass."

Whenthedoveflies finished second, beaten 3 1/4 lengths by Mary Murphy, after setting the early pace in the six-furlong Goldarama Stakes on May 2, and Ziadie said he is not going to change her style now. Not even with such speedsters as Beautiful Honor, Petrina Above, and Letussoupriseyou entered.

"She's always on the muscle when she's fresh like this, and she's really worked up to the max coming into this race, so it's going to be hard to do anything but let her go right to the lead," said Ziadie, who has named Fairmount Park-based jockey Ramsey Zimmerman aboard Whenthedoveflies on Sunday.

With the potential for a suicidal pace, late runners like Crafty Brat, Really Royal, or Silver Lace all figure to have a big chance of running down the leaders in the Golden Or.

Crafty Brat has been off her best game this season and comes into the race winless in six starts in 2004 and a beaten favorite in each of her last three tries. But Crafty Brat is a multiple stakes winner and showed some improvement in her last start, a late-running third behind Sea Span and Beautiful Honor in the Unique Type Stakes.

Really Royal has not started since finishing second behind Petrina Above in the Barbs Dancer Stakes on July 13, but comes off a bullet half-mile work and is a five-time winner over this track.

Silver Lace turns back a furlong after defeating softer competition when rallying from last to win the seven-furlong Little Sister Stakes earlier this month.

Sea Span ran down Beautiful Honor to capture the Unique Type for her second stakes win of the year, while Petrina Above was an easy winner of the Barbs Dancer after getting loose on the lead.

Honeymooner, Tchula Miss, and Snappy Tale round out the lineup.

* B.B. Best and Favre, the first- and second-place finishers in the six-furlong Dr. Fager Stakes, each worked a mile here Friday morning with B.B. Best clocked in 1:48 and his stablemate in 1:48.20. Both 2-year-olds are trained by Eddie Plesa Jr. and are likely to make their next start in the $125,000 Affirmed Stakes at seven furlongs on Sept 4. The Affirmed is the middle leg of the open division of the Florida Stallion Stakes, and along with the $125,000 Susan's Girl Stakes highlights the 13-race Juvenile Showcase Day card.