Imaginationthelady Faces Deep Edgewood Field

Six entries in the $600,000 Edgewood Stakes (G2T) for sophomore fillies May 1 at Churchill Downs are all within a length of each other in ability and tightly packed in the morning line between 4-1 and 8-1. Imaginationthelady is the slight 4-1 morning-line favorite with a grade 2 win at the Edgewood's 1 1/16 miles but on the Keeneland turf in October in the Jessamine Stakes (G2T). She also ran fourth in the fall in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). Mark Dobbin's daughter of Not This Time comes into the Edgewood off a neck loss to Storm's Wake in the Appalachian Stakes (G2T) April 4 at Keeneland. Imaginationthelady is trained by Brendan Walsh and will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione. The Edgewood has attracted the top four finishers of the 1-mile Appalachian. Besides William Werner's homebred Storm's Wake and Imaginationthelady the field includes Emcee Stable's Lion Lake (IRE) (a head back in third) and Whisper Hill Farm homebred Just Aloof, who just missed third place by a neck. Both Lion Lake and Just Aloof are grade 3 winners. Lion Lake, by Dark Angel and trained by Walsh, won the Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park and will be ridden by John Velazquez. Just Aloof won the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) in November at Del Mar by 2 1/2 lengths. The daughter of Justify is trained by Chad Brown and will be ridden by Flavien Prat. Imaginationthelady and Lion Lake both produced 5-furlong bullet works April 23 in 1:00 4/5 at Turfway Park. This sparkling work was equaled by Indigo Woods (IRE), a 15-1 third runner in the field trained by Walsh and owned by Larry Rodgers and Coast Racing. The Irish-bred daughter of Blue Point (IRE) is undefeated in two career starts and comes into the race off a win in the Allen Black Cat LaCombe Memorial Stakes. Indigo Woods will be ridden by Axel Concepcion. Also highly regarded in the field is Repole Stable's Time to Dream, another daughter of Not This Time, who comes into the race off a runner-up finish in the 1 1/16-mile Florida Oaks (G3T). She ran in the Jessamine Stakes as well last fall where she finished third by a length and a nose to Imaginationthelady. Time to Dream also ran in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but finished 10th after getting bumped early and then forced to race wide. The Juvenile Fillies Turf has been her only off the board finish in five career starts. She became a stakes winner in her second start when she won the P.G. Johnson Stakes by 5 lengths at Saratoga Race Course. Trained by Todd Pletcher, she is 5-1 on the morning line and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. Dandona, winner of the Florida Oaks, is in the field as well. Tagermeen Racing's filly by Tiz the Law has two wins and a third from her three career starts with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. She will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.