If you had bet $2 to win on the 2-year-old filly Poppy the Princess in the fourth race on Aug. 17 at Ellis Park and reinvested the money you won that day betting Zealous Moon to win the third race on Oct. 6 at Keeneland, your $2 would have turned into about $3,500. Both fillies blew up Kentucky toteboards earlier this year and wind up facing each other in race 8 on Thursday at Churchill Downs. This 1 1/16-mile grass contest for juvenile females drew an overflow field and supports featured race 5, another grass race, this one carded for one mile with two high-level allowance conditions and a $175,000 claiming option. Here we find Wadsworth listed as the 7-5 morning-line favorite in a fairly salty group of seven grass horses, with two more entered for the main track only. Brad Cox trains Wadsworth, who hasn’t raced since September 2023. If you had bet $2 to win on all the Cox-trained turf-route horses returning from layoffs of a half year or longer during the last five years, you would have less than half your bankroll left. Does Wadsworth, a multiple stakes winner who found a home on turf during his 2023 campaign, hold a great enough talent edge to accept a short price? Probably not. His stakes wins came in age-restricted competition, and Wadsworth makes his first start against older horses. Cox’s general strike rate with long-term comeback runners goes beyond elite, but Wadsworth can be opposed. :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  Drawn on the rail, he’ll be flanked in the starting gate by Mr. Wireless, a 6-year-old with $1.16 million in earnings and higher-level form than Wadsorth has reached. Among Mr. Wireless’s 22 starts only one came on turf, but that outing, two Octobers ago in a Keeneland race at a class level similar to Thursday’s, produced a representative performance. Harlan Estate, cross-entered in a Saturday stakes race, also holds at least as much appeal at a longer price than Wadsworth. As for the 2-year-old fillies, Poppy the Princess made a sharp mid-race move to go from the rear of a field into contention, finishing the job for a 33-1 debut upset. Either she improved massively second time out, or the 34 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in that race needs reconsideration. At Keeneland last month, Poppy the Princess, no fluke, apparently, closed with interest to finish second in a first-level allowance, earning a 70 Beyer. Poppy the Princess’s 34 for her victory improbably came back even lower than the 37 that Victory Moon earned in her debut, when she finished last of 11, beaten 20 lengths. That dud came in a dirt sprint, and when Victory Moon showed up in a Keeneland turf-route maiden, she went to post a nickel shy of 50-1 and won by a half-length. Whether by speed figures or the betting public, these two fillies have so far been underrated. Both are listed at 6-1 on Thursday and either could surprise again, if more mildly. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.