Who will get there first, Smoke Signals or the wire?

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Arnaud Delacour expects Smoke Signals to close with a rush in the opening-day feature at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, but the question is whether the filly will run out of real estate before reaching the front of the pack.

Smoke Signals rallied from eighth place to finish third, beaten 2 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 3 Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 14. But that turf sprint was at 5 1/2 furlongs, and Saturday’s optional $100,000 claiming race covers only five furlongs on grass. Delacour said that although his filly is “doing terrific,” he’s concerned that the shorter trip might not allow Smoke Signals to rally in time.

“I’m not sure that five-eighths is her best distance,” he said. “When you go 5 1/2 at Keeneland, you have plenty of time to close, but that straight five-eighths at Tampa might be a little short for her. But I think she deserves a shot.”

A full field of 10 fillies and mares ages 3 and up, plus four longshots on the also-eligible list, signed up for the featured 10th race on Saturday’s 11-race card. The no-conditions allowance offers a purse of $27,500 and serves as a prep for the $100,000 Lightning City Stakes, a five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares here Dec. 17.

“There’s only so much you can close at Tampa,” Delacour said. “The stretch is pretty short, I would say, so if it doesn’t look like the five-eighths is going to suit her, we’ll probably give her some time off and bring her back in the spring. But if she runs well and looks like she likes the track, then we’ll definitely give her a shot in the Lightning City.”

KEY CONTENDERS

Smoke Signals, by Street Sense

Last 3 Beyers: 85-84-80

◗ She enters the race in top form, having won a third-level allowance at Delaware Park in August before finishing second in an optional claimer at Parx Racing in September and making her stakes debut in the Franklin County.

◗ The 4-year-old filly will have Leandro Goncalves aboard for the first time when she breaks from post 2.

Everything Lovely, by Pollard’s Vision

Last 3 Beyers: 78-95-83

◗ She gets class relief after losing seven consecutive stakes races, including a seventh-place finish in the Franklin County, in which she tracked the pace and weakened in the lane to be beaten 4 3/4 lengths. But her prior race in September leaps off the page. She finished second to the top turf sprinter Lady Shipman in the $200,000 Turf Amazon at Parx, losing by just a length and tying for the best Beyer Speed Figure in this field.

Cali Thirty Seven, by Eskendereya

Last 3 Beyers: 82-85-71

◗ Most of her recent races have been turf routes, including a win in the one-mile Powder Break Stakes at Gulfstream Park in April. But two starts back in August, she rallied for third, beaten half a length, in the 5 1/2-furlong Blue Sparkler Stakes on the Monmouth Park grass.