Vulnerable Favorite in $60,000 Bayou Stakes

5/2 favorite Istanford will try to rebound against lesser foes after finishing ninth in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes October 4 at Keeneland in her last start.  The Michael Stidham trainee is a multiple graded stakes winner, but will be viewed cautiously by many bettors who will question her recent form.  Istanford, who has run her best races on the lead, is also likely to face a stern pace rival to her outside in Eden Prairie (4/1).  Rafael Bejarano gets the call breaking from post four. 

Notte d' Oro looks for repeat stakes score 

Stidham will also saddle 7/2 second choice Notte d’ Oro who enters the Bayou on a two race winning streak.  The lightly-raced four year-old filly has won four of seven career starts, and notched her first stakes victory January 17 in the Krantz Memorial Handicap at Fair Grounds.  James Graham, who has ridden Notte d’ Oro in all but two of her starts, will be in the irons again breaking from the rail. 

Improving filly has look of contender 

Nice Number (5/1) is an interesting item for trainer Brad Cox after winning impressively in a pair of off-the-turf allowance races run on tracks listed as sloppy and muddy in her last two starts.  The four year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile posted slower speed figures in her five career starts on turf, but has shown marked improvement since being switched to Cox’s barn last fall.