NEW ORLEANS -- Summerly, who is expected to start as the favorite in Saturday's Grade 2, $300,000 Fair Grounds Oaks, will have a new rider for the race, with Jerry Bailey replacing Donnie Meche, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday morning.

Meche most recently rode Summerly to victory in the Grade 3 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 12. Meche rode Summerly in her last two starts, which she won by a combined margin of 13 lengths.

Asmussen said he wanted to get Bailey now in order to give him a chance to get acquainted with Summerly before the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 6.

"I always thought if Bailey had ridden Lady Tak before the Kentucky Oaks, we'd have had a better chance," Asmussen said. "You don't have two chances to win the Kentucky Oaks."

Lady Tak finished sixth in the 2003 Kentucky Oaks while being ridden by Bailey for the first time.

Bwana Charlie, Asmussen's top sprinter, zipped five furlongs in 58.80 seconds Tuesday morning in preparation for his return in the $125,000 Duncan Kenner Breeders' Cup Handicap on March 19. The six-furlong Kenner was formerly known as the Pelleteri.

The time was the best of 10 at the distance on Tuesday and was the only five-furlong work faster than 1:01.

Bwana Charlie has not raced since finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Lone Star Park. His last victory came in the Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga.

Track gets rave reviews
Asmussen was one of several trainers who praised the condition of the main track Tuesday morning. Fair Grounds was hit by a vicious storm during racing on Monday, but the main track was in excellent shape for Tuesday's workouts. The track was rated good.

"There's no substitute for this track," Asmussen said. "It rained all day, and the track is in good shape."

"There's no place in America that could look like this the day after that storm," said trainer Al Stall Jr.

Neil Howard, who sent out the filly Soul Search and the older horse Alumni Hall for works in preparation for stakes Saturday, called the surface "unbelievable."

"Look how good this track is after all the rain we had yesterday," Howard said.