Back to Work at Maywood Tonight

After sitting out last week on the Also Eligible list, I Am Woman pushes up a wee bit in class tonight as she takes on 7 other fillies and mares tonight in the 4th race at Maywood Park. This one is for Non-Winners of 4 Races or $20,000 Lifetime and carries a purse of $3700. There is not a lot of familiarity in this race as only two from her last outing are here to take her on including last race nemesis, Cole By A Knows.

Here is a rundown of tonight's cast with driver and ML odds:

1 Fancy Creek Queen (Marcus Miller) 6-1: Hasn't done much with an outside post, but has been able to do some damage when shifting inside. Her style may get her the pocket trip.

2. Maggie's Dream (Dean Magee) 3-1: She's liked the lead and she's gone once over. Her last race was a clunker, but it was against much tougher. If she can build off her effort of two back (1st back after a layoff), she'll be dangerous here.

3. I AM WOMAN (BRANDON SIMPSON) 5/2

4. Niners Shadow (Brian Carpenter) 15- 1: The morning line may be generous...

5. Cole By A Knows (Michael Cox) 7/2: Beat us last out with a nice trip and a game effort. This time she moves outside a spot and has a little more speed inside of her. It'll be tough to get the garden trip, but she'll be tough anyway. Another driver shift from Oosting to Cox.

6. Marg's Ideal (Tyler Buter) 4-1: Speedster moving outside after four consecutive starts from the 4 hole or inside. Outside posts have not stopped her from going to the lead and she's even won from out there, but it'll be tough today. Usually Simpson's drive, she's driven by Buter who beat us with Cole last out.

7. Real Peachy (Joshua Sutton) 12/1: Jumps way up in class after not showing much. A bad combination.

8. Mattjestic Help (Leroy Miller) 15/1: Probably doesn't deserve to be the longest shot on the board, but only managed fourth behind Cole and our girl last out, 4 lengths behind them.

I Am Woman has her work cut out for her tonight. If she wants to shoot for the lead, she'll need to get in front of Maggie's Dream and watch for Marg's Ideal on the outside. If she chooses to try and grab the pocket, it'll be tough to know who to tuck in behind. Choose wrong and you could end up in third or worse stuck on the rail dependent on a beak from the traffic flow and have to battle Cole By A Knows down the short stretch again. The top four in this one are pretty evenly matched up and it looks like this one is going to hinge on the drive and a whole lot of racing luck.