Wolfson strong with new stock

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Marty Wolfson is batting a torrid 33 percent with new acquisitions over the past two years, and he appears to have a pretty good chance of improving on that impressive statistic when he sends out Champagne Eyes to go a mile against seven other fillies and mares in Thursday's $53,000 third-level allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.

Champagne Eyes was purchased by one of Wolfson's main clients, Farnsworth Farms, at the Keeneland November sale several weeks after finishing a tiring 11th and last in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland. The outing was the second Grade 1 try for the daughter of Flatter, who won a restricted stakes at Santa Anita to open her 2009 campaign.

"Most of her races have been over synthetic surfaces," Wolfson said. "She's only run a couple of times on conventional dirt, but she did finish second on regular dirt once and she's also run against horses like Zenyatta and Indian Blessing during her career. I don't think a mile is her best distance, but she's been training well and she's so classy I expect her to run well off the layoff."

There is no shortage of speed in Thursday's headliner, and Champagne Eyes figures to get tested early by Exclusive Woman and Manitoba Miss. That scenario could set the stage for Fools in Love to register her third straight win.

Trained by Kelly Breen, Fools in Love has shown steady improvement since leaving here last winter off a pair of double-digit-length losses against entry-level allowance foes. She began showing signs of life with a couple of fourth-place finishes against stakes company this fall in Maryland before closing out the year by winning an entry-level optional claimer at the Meadowlands and the restricted Orleans Stakes at Delta Downs.

Horse-for-course players will certainly side with Newport Harbour, whose two victories in two starts over Gulfstream Park's main track include a win out of the tricky one-mile chute. A former claimer, Newport Harbour won just once in five starts last year, although she was stakes-placed at Saratoga and finished second in her 2009 finale at Churchill Downs.

Song of Solomon makes her sixth career start over her sixth different racetrack Thursday. She has handled the traveling well, capturing three of her last four tries, capped by an easy 6 3/4-length second-level optional claiming win over Aqueduct's inner track on Dec. 3.