You'll be hearing from these fillies

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - What is this, Saratoga? From the 2-year-old action on Wednesday at Arlington Park, one might get confused.

After a less than robust beginning to Wednesday racing here July 1, when the Arlington Park race week expanded from four days to five, Arlington has put together a more than serviceable nine-race Wednesday program this week. And that's thanks in great part to the 2-year-olds.

Race 4 is an entry-level allowance at six furlongs on Polytrack for 2-year-old fillies, a stepping-stone toward the Arlington-Washington Lassie in September. Plus, there are two divisions of a 2-year-old filly maiden special weight at seven furlongs, going as the fifth and the seventh. The card concludes with a competitive Illinois-bred entry-level allowance race on the main track, and a pretty good-looking older maiden race for turf sprinters.

The 2-year-old allowance race drew six entries. Beautiful Bliss and Dorothy Y figure to head the wagering, with perhaps a healthy dose of Solid Lunar thrown in. In an Illinois-bred maiden race on June 27, Dorothy Y scored by one length over Shake N Quake, who came back to win last weekend. Dorothy Y was given an 82 Beyer. That's a 14-point edge on Beautiful Bliss, but do not be surprised if the filly with the lower figure turns out to be the better animal.

While Dorothy Y went to the lead and raced in the clear from an outside draw, Beautiful Bliss - beating open maidens in her career debut, not Illinois-breds - broke inward from post 1 and was trapped on the rail, crying to run, for most of the trip. When she finally got out in the stretch, she accelerated rapidly and ran down Credit Crunch, who came back to win in her next out.

"That filly is training really well since her race," said trainer Mike Stidham. "She's continued to show us talent in the morning."

Stidham has a first-time starter named Upperline for race 7, but this looks like the tougher division of the split seven-furlong 2-year-old maiden race. Once-started fillies Screen Legend and Afleet Maggi look like contenders, and trainer Bret Calhoun, who sent out sharp 2-year-old debut winner Deceptive Glory here last month, has a Holy Bull filly named Bullrunna for this spot.

And as for swift morning work, take a look at Mr. Realistic's in raceo9, the turf-sprint maiden-special. He shows a bullet half-mile from the gate on June 29, a near-bullet half-mile a week earlier - just one of many promising youngsters in action Wednesday at Arlington.