All eyes are on Arkansas late afternoon Saturday, with a pair of $1 million races on the Oaklawn program. Let’s jump right in this week. :: Bet horse racing on DRF Bets. Double Your First Deposit Up to $250. Join Now. Apple Blossom This marks a great matchup between Swiss Skydiver, champion 3-year-old filly of 2020, and Monomoy Girl, twice a champion during an incredible career. One might overlook the fact they met last autumn because that race, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, was not really a race at all between Swiss Skydiver and Monomoy Girl. Swiss Skydiver started poorly, briefly bid inside, but was out of gas in midstretch as Monomoy Girl won her second Distaff. The prospect of a rivalry flowered anew when Swiss Skydiver returned from a winter break in the Beholder Mile last month at Santa Anita, looking every bit as formidable in her 4-year-old unveiling as she had at her 3-year-old apex. Meanwhile, Monomoy Girl, in her 2021 bow, the Bayakoa at Oaklawn, did what she has done 15 times in 16 starts – cross the wire first. Still, I wonder if this Apple Blossom could turn out to be “neither, nor” rather than “either, or.” Letruska has not reached the heights to which the two favorites have ascended, but at her 2020 best she held up through a demanding pace to wire the nine-furlong Shuvee at Saratoga, and the mare has hit a new level this season racing without blinkers. Last out, she ceded the lead to 2020 Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil in the Azeri Stakes and couldn’t run that filly down while giving five pounds. Saturday, she gets six pounds from Monomoy Girl and four from Swiss Skydiver. After shipping for the Azeri, Letruska remained at Oaklawn to train for the Apple Blossom, posting a pair of sharp drills. She attracts champion jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who surely puts the mare on the lead to try to control the pace. If Swiss Skydiver, drawn inside Letruska, goes with her, it sets for Monomoy Girl, but if Swiss Skydiver takes back – the more likely scenario – Letruska can wire these at a fair price. Oaklawn Handicap This race holds more appeal as a betting proposition than the Apple Blossom because I think two shorter prices are vulnerable. Express Train brings fine California form to the party, but I think his Beyer Speed Figures somewhat overrate him, and to my eye, his two recent workouts weren’t as strong as the drills he was posting over the winter. The horse has unusual conformation and doesn’t travel sweetly. He’s gotten relatively easy trips in his last three starts, and his trainer has sent out very few Midwest shippers in recent years. I do respect Silver State and think he could win the Met Mile in June, but nine furlongs feels beyond his scope and the rail draw here does him no favors. I prefer his Steve Asmussen-trained stablemate Silver Prospector, who ran a mighty race moving through an inside hole on an outside-biased track and finishing second in the Razorback to subsequent Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide. Silver Prospector is drawn favorably for a pressing trip outside Warrior’s Charge, but my concern is he’ll run out of gas going nine furlongs. I’ll take Fearless to run down the top pair from a stalking position. This horse’s ability came forth from the beginning of his career, but for whatever reason, his positional pace deserted him as his 2020 campaign wore on, and following last summer’s Stephen Foster, he needed a break. Fearless returned this winter in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile at a one-turn-mile trip short of his best, getting into the race much quicker than before his layoff. His work pattern into this start, likely a long-term goal, has no holes, and Fearless has an excellent pedigree for this move out to nine furlongs. Elkhorn Tide of the Sea got my initial vote, but I returned to the ballot box to support North Dakota, who looks like the best value in this 12-furlong turf contest. North Dakota’s form took a mighty leap when he was stretched to these marathon trips last year, and he had serious trouble in the Sycamore last fall at Keeneland before beating Red Knight, this race’s morning-line favorite, on the square in the Red Smith. The Pegasus Turf, his lone start this year, was the wrong sort of race for North Dakota, who can make a sustained run and tag Tide of the Sea in the late stages.