Whimsy, Eyes On Eddy Top Field for Arlington Oaks

Recent stakes winners Pin Oak Stable's Whimsy and Ralls & Foster's Eyes On Eddy top a field of eight sophomore fillies entered for Saturday's $100,000 Arlington Oaks at Arlington Park.

Whimsy, the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the 1 1/8-mile race, returns to Arlington Park after earning back-to-back stakes victories at Prairie Meadows. The Mike Stidham-trained daughter of Maria's Mon captured the $50,000 Panther Stakes at one mile on June 10 by four lengths and successfully stretched out to Saturday's nine furlongs distance to score in the $125,000 Iowa Oaks (gr. III) July 1. In her only previous start at Arlington, Whimsy was third in the six-furlong Ribbon Handicap on opening day, May 14. Carlos Marquez Jr., who guided the bay filly to both her Iowa victories, has a return call Saturday.

Eyes On Eddy scored a definitive 10-length victory in the one-mile $46,950 Sweetest Chant Stakes July 29 to earn her second win of the season. Earlier this year, the Paul McGee-trained filly won a first-level allowance race over the Arlington oval. The daughter of Touch Gold, who overcame serious injury before ever making it to the races, raced against top competition this season and finished second to eventual Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) heroine Summerly in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes (gr. III) at the Fair Grounds. James Graham has the mount.

Slated to face the top two in Saturday's headliner are: Harold Fishman's Flip Side (Lori Wydick); Elkhorn Oaks Racing's Gallant Secret (Jesse Campbell); John C. Oxley's Miss Matched (Shaun Bridgmohan); Cox Thoroughbreds' Tappin For Gold (Mark Guidry); and the Jim Tafel LLC-owned coupling of Easily (Brian J. Hernandez Jr.) and Ritzy (Chris Emigh).

Of these, Miss Matched appears to fit this spot nicely. The daughter of Formal Gold won the opening day $40,000 Ribbon and parlayed that success into a graded stakes score in her next start, capturing the grade III Dogwood Breeders' Cup Stakes at Churchill in June. In her most recent trip to the post, the John Oxley filly was second to Eyes On Eddy in the Sweetest Chant.