PRINCE S. SPECIAL Brings Out Four Hopefuls

A small group of four juveniles will come to the gate at the Ole North State Downs on Saturday.  Besides HUNTER IN CANADA, who will making his first run on the turf, the other three starters have shown steady improvement to reach this point in their two year old campaign.

MINSTREL BAY(GB) –pp.1 (Haafhd(GB) x Prospect Bay)  He has been in-the money five of six trips; with his only poor outing being in the KyHorseman Juvenile-gr. I.  Ranked #40 in the turf sprint group for two years old.

MR POWERSTORM BG (GB)  -pp.2  (Powerscourt x Miswaki)  Making his stakes debut, he has been on a run of consistency (four straight of being within two lengths of the winner or better).

HUNTER IN CANADA  -pp. 3  (High Yield x Grand Slam)  After a seventh place finish (only four lengths out) in his last outing, ownership felt it was time to test the grass.  His two other dirt starts were impressive, so this test may be a one shot deal.  Bloodline leans toward dirt, but sire has had some success throwing turfers.

UNO OJAI –pp. 4      (Macho Uno x Kingmambo) He showed a big improvement when switched to the grass three races back. He appears to prefer lying off the pace, and small field and good early fractions should benefit this race favorite. 

Even though HUNTER IN CANADA will be going on grass for the first time, I still expect him to break out and grab the early lead with MR POWERSTORM(GB) applying the early pressure down the backstretch.  MINSTREL BAY (GB) and UNO OJAI will most likely settle a few lengths off the lead and begin their move as the small group round the turn.  UNO OJAI has shown some definite preference for grass and may continue to improve.  MINSTREL BAY (GB) could be the real challenge, especially if HUNTER IN CANADA finds the footing unfavorable.  MR POWERSTORM BG (GB) has been going against a bit more softer competition, but should stay in contention in this event.