Evening Jewel the highweight in Madison

Evening Jewel and Dr. Zic will each

attempt to earn their second top-level score over the Keeneland Polytrack when

squaring off in Thursday's $300,000 Madison S.

(Grade 1) over seven furlongs. Evening Jewel, who took the Ashland S. (Grade 1) last

season, will carry 119 pounds, two more than everyone else in the field

including Dr. Zic, who registered a 15-1 upset of the 2010 Madison.

Widely known for her prowess on a variety of surfaces, Evening Jewel will

bring an 8-3-4-0 synthetic mark into the Madison. When last encountering this

particular surface, Evening Jewel carried her speed the entire 1 1/16 miles of

the Ashland, holding on to win by a neck. She went on to finish second by a nose

in the Kentucky Oaks (Grade 1), then spent time on the turf winning the Honeymoon H.

(Grade 2), San Clemente H. (Grade 2) and Del Mar Oaks (Grade 1). She concluded last season with

thirds in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (Grade 1) on Keeneland's turf and the

Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (Grade 1).

The Jim Cassidy-trainee has had mixed success in three early 2011 starts.

After a dull fifth in the Monrovia S. (Grade 3), she was a game half-length winner on

dirt in the Sunshine Millions Distaff. However, she could only finish 1 1/4

lengths second last time in the Valentine Dancer H., an off-the-turf event

versus fellow California-breds.

The wheels came off Dr. Zic after she posted a 2 1/2-length win in last

year's Madison over eventual divisional champion Dubai Majesty. After finishing

second in the Hendrie S. (Grade 3), she finished up the track in her final three

starts of the season in the Princess Rooney H. (Grade 1), Presque Isle Downs Masters

S. (Grade 3) and Thoroughbred Club of America S. (Grade 2), the latter over the Keeneland

strip. She's been working consistently all winter at Tampa Bay Downs, gearing up

for this with a five-furlong bullet work last week.

Grade 2 winner Amen Hallelujah, second this season in the Inside

Information S. (Grade 2) and Sabin S. (Grade 3), won twice over Polytrack at Arlington

Park early in her career and was third in the 2009 Alcibiades S. (Grade 1) in her

only other appearance at Keeneland. The Rick Dutrow trainee is winless since

taking back-to-back victories in the Davona Dale S. (Grade 2) and Santa Ynez S. (Grade 2)

in early 2010.

My Jen has been soundly trounced in two starts since

upsetting the Gallant Bloom H. (Grade 2) at Belmont last September, but might

fight the return to Polytrack uplifting. She captured her first two career

starts over the surface in the fall of 2009, including one at Keeneland. Grade 3

veteran Decelerator, a close second over this track in the Raven Run S. (Grade 2) in

October, enters off a 7 3/4-length Oaklawn allowance score for D. Wayne Lukas,

while the Grade 3-placed Kitty in a Tizzy will make her first start

since running fourth in the Raven Run.

The field is completed by Fascinatin' Rhythm, Shotgun Gulch and Tremendamente

Loca.