THIS WEEK IN MINNESOTA–2832
This weeks 10th race feature in Minnesota is THE THEIR DEED HANDICAP STAKES for fillies and mares 4YO and up going a mile and a half on the turf. Eight have entered the race to seek the lion’s share of the $35,000 purse. THEIR DEED, who retired in 2000 went 7/25 lifetime including 2 stakes victories and bankrolled $208,211. The long routes on the lawn were here specialty.
Lets take a look at today’s field:
1) SHADY SHAADI—7/1—saintly 271 has this 4 year old SHADDI filly coming into this race with a 2/3 mark in restricted allowance races since coming back from an injury when she ill advised tried to run on a sloppy dirt track last year. She came up lame in that one but with a last race speed rating of 93 appears to have her form back. She will be looking for her first stakes win in this race. She is a speed horse and I am not sure how much she will like the extra 2 furlongs but you can be sure that P Green(11.8%) will have this one on or pressing the pace.
2) MONA LISA TOO(GB)—9/2—iant4 sends oujt this 5 year old PIVOTAL(GB) mare into this race with an 0/6 lifetime record in stakes races. She di win her final race of the season in 2005 but in both her starts this year she has failed to sustain her speed and faded in the stretch. She is another of which I am not sure will like the added yardage in todays race. Lightly used K Ritterspauch(10.4%) is in the irons today.
3) JACK’S JOGGER—4/1—jackworm sends out this 8 year old THE JOGGER mare with an 8/40 lifetime record including 1 stakes victory. This mare has a versatile running style and will probably see how the race unfolds before comitting to any particular style. She was well back in her seasonal debut race last time out but may have needed that race as a tightener and should improve in today’s race. Her low 90’s and high 80’s speed ratings puts her in the thick of it here today. A little worried about the jockey selection for this race as N Brim(2.9%) has only 1 win in 34 mounts so far this year.
4) NEXIS RAINBOW—5/1—zambaygo sends out this 4 year old PEINTRE CELEBRE(IRE) filly looking for her 1st stakes victory today. She is another with a versatile running style and has shown to like today’s distance. She has finished in the top 3 in both of her starts this year and ran an evenly run third in a stakes race in her last start. J Hendrickson(17.1%) gets the nod today.
5) OTHFLY’S WELLS—10/1—othello sends this blueblood bred 5 year old SADLER’S WELLS mare into this race with a 3/15 lifetime stakes race record. This middle packer runner has shown a good late kick in some of her winning races and may use that style in this one with the abundance of speed in today’s race. The scary aspect is that her speed ratings are down 20 points this year and that is why she has the longshot status for today’s race. In any event with her connections placing her in races very well she has picked up a cheque in 4 of her last 5 stakes starts. O Stinson(8.4%) will be riding her today.
6) TK’S DYNAMO—5/1—citation may have an advantage here today being that he is one of the local trainers on the Minnesota circuit. His 4 year old DYNAFORMER filly already has 3 stakes wins to her credit. She is another speedy stalker type tho debuted with a well rated victory in a stakes race in her 2006 debut in Wisconsin. She is a steady type who has cashed a cheque in 8 straight races and will have the services of the meet’s top jockey in K Bowen(22.1%).
7) THE WAR DEPARTMENT—8/1—surlyn sends out this 4 year old WAR CHANT filly winless in 2 previous lifetime stakes starts. She has shown some nice ability as a closer in her form and appears to be comfortable with the distance in today’s race. While her last race was a big disappointment, it became apparent that the cuback in distance was obviously not to her liking. With a return to a long route race jockey J Ritorto(16.8%) should produce an improved effort.
8) PUBLIK ENEMY—7/2— pygmalion sends out the lukewarm morning line favorite with this 4 year old RAINBOW QUEST filly, Since switching to the lawn in her second start as a 3 year old she has never failed to cash a cheque for her connections in a race. She is another who has shown versatility in racing styles which along with the services of one of the track’s top jockeys, K Friar(19.1%) could be a major factor in today’s race. She shows several wins at today’s race distance in her 3 year old campaign. She did win her first lifetime stakes race 2 starts back.
A nice field of 8 routing fillies and mares in today’s race. In reality any of them could win this as they all show very similar speed ratings in the high 80’s and low 90’s so how the race sets up will be a big factor today. I am going to go with the 6 horse trusting that the local trainer may have the edge at this track.
Also of note is the 16th race on today’s card which is another in a Minnesota Residence sire series contest in which all of the entrants are Mountain Cat sired horses. Desperado’s Cathouse returns to action today after skipping the last race 3 weeks ago but as this race is also on his non favored turf surface the trainer may be using this one as a tuneup for the remainder of the series. Theo’s Mulligan finally got the monkey of his back last time out getting the win and moved up into 2nd place in the standings and if he could double up with another win in today’s race would really tighten up the contest standings. $75,000 purse is up for grabs. Mount Chris and On And On And On have also won turf races in this series and should be challenging for the win in today’s race as well. A 5000 credit prize awaits the winner of this series which has widdled down to 9 horses remaining eligible from the original 17 entrants. Should be a great race with myself picking Theo’s Mulligan to get the back to back win today. ( I guess I should mention that I am the owner-trainer of that one. LOL)
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING.