Yo, Adriano

Kentucky's winter/early spring answer to Aqueduct's inner track is Turfway Park, whose name has never fit. It has no grass course, so I always thought it should be called Dirtway Park. But not anymore, because for the past few years it's had an artificial surface, so perhaps the name should be Syntheticway Park or Polytrack Downs. I rarely play the races there, except for its two stakes-filled Saturdays, Kentucky Cup Day in September and Lane's End Stakes Day in late March.

On Saturday a dozen second-tier 3-year-olds will contest the Grade II, $500,000 Lane's End Stakes, which over the years has produced quite a few horses that hit the board in the Kentucky Derby, among them the 1991 Preakness-Belmont winner, Hansel, and last year's Derby runner-up, Hard Spun. After taking the Lane's End, Hard Spun didn't run again until Derby Day, when he set a blazing pace and was caught by Street Sense in the final furlong. Is there another Hard Spun in this Lane's End? Most likely, there isn't, but it's still an intriguing handicapping puzzle and you get paid off if you solve it. I hit double-digit winners in stakes the past two weeks -- Visionaire ($11) in the Gotham and Sierra Sunset ($10.40) in the Rebel -- so let's see if I can make it three in a row.

Adriano is 6-1 on the morning line, and I'll go with him to win and place and key him in exacta boxes with Raceway Rhapsody and Halo Najib, the two who should draw most of the money. Adriano (by A.P. Indy) has the pedigree to get 1 1/8 miles, which many of his rivals do not. Although he's run mainly on grass in his six races, he had excuses in his two non-turf attempts. He was stuck wide behind a crawling pace last October in Keeneland's Breeders' Futurity, finishing fourth, beaten about 6 lengths, behind Wicked Style, who stole the race under Robby Albarado. Last time out in the Florida Derby Adriano was hung wide in post 12 and had to be steadied entering the first turn, which pretty much eliminated him.

Turf specialists usually handle synthetic surfaces, and although I know I'm making a risky leap of faith, I think Adriano has a lot of upside, and the price will be right. He's been working well in Florida over the deep surface at Palm Meadows for shrewd trainer Graham Motion. With front-runners Duke Of De Buque and Chitoz inside Adriano (post 5), he should be able to sit behind a fast pace while saving ground with Edgar Prado. If this experiment doesn't work, it probably will be back to the grass for Adriano. He doesn't have a lot to beat here, though, and I think he could be sitting on a career best.