SEPARATED by a short head at a mile three weeks ago, long-shot 1000 Guineas winner SHE'S TRADITIONAL and runner-up STAR FLYER clash in tomorrow's Jamaica Oaks, going two furlongs longer, with little by way of performance to separate them.

With third-place TRINITHETUTOR, who had finished three-quarter length behind the duo, scratched from the event, SHE'S TRADI-TIONAL and STAR FLYER should again be the horses to beat.

STAR FLYER got first run on ANTOINETTE in the Guineas but was immediately pounced on by 99-1 outsider SHE'S TRADITIONAL and the pair staged a tremendous stretch duel back to the wire.

Both horses are back with noticeable changes. Four-time champion jockey Omar Walker replaces Trevor Simpson aboard SHE'S TRADITIONAL amid concerns with the five-time champion's work ethics following her narrow victory on April 7.

STAR FLYER, who was only racing for the second time on Guineas Day, still has champion jockey Dick Cardenas astride but returns treated with lasix and has worked brilliantly for her third outing.

Despite SHE'S TRADITIONAL and STAR FLYER's Guineas heroics, stamina will be the deciding factor at 2000 metres, a distance neither has navigated to date.

The Oaks could turn out to be a much different race than the Guineas, which is really a sprint for classy horses.

backstretch

With SHE'S TRADITIONAL and STAR FLYER untested in excess of a mile, their riders could be caught watching each other down the backstretch. If that happens, Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes runner-up PHILISTIA and Thornbird Stakes winner EXOTIC GOLD, both outsped in the Guineas, could be closer in a slower pace this time around.

The Guineas had rabbits who blazed 1:12.3 into the lane. However, it is pace and stamina, not speed, which will decide the 2000-metre Oaks.

Class, however, at times suffices in three-year-old-classics, especially among fillies. STAR FLYER, in just two starts, showed unbelievable class by taking on the rabbits early and disposing them off the home turn before the more experienced SHE'S TRADITIONAL, who had four prior races under her girth, got the better of her in a nod at the wire.

Trainer Anthony Nunes turned up the throttle on STAR FLYER at exercise Sunday morning and she blasted seven furlongs in 1:27.4, improving on the 1:29.2 she had posted six days prior.

Nunes himself said he was more than pleased with her effort in the Guineas, all but saying she had performed above expectations.

"I wasn't disappointed at all," he said. "To do what I asked was a lot, two weeks after her first race," he admitted.

After SHE'S TRADITIONAL pointed on her a furlong out in the Guineas, STAR FLYER's inexperience showed when Cardenas angled her to mid-track where she staged a tremendous rally when she spotted her rival.

With those battling qualities and her obvious class, STAR FLYER should make amends for her near miss by turning the tables on SHE'S TRADITIONAL in tomorrow's Oaks.