THIS WEEK IN MINNESOTA—WEEK 3217
This week’s 10th race feature at Minnesota brings the spotlight on the juvenile filly ranks in the 3rd running of The Phone Buda Challenge Stakes. A field of 7 are entered to go 6 furlongs on the turf chasing for the winners share of the $45,000 purse. The race is named in honor of the mare Phone Buda who was 3/28 at the track with over $118,000 in lifetime earnings.
Let’s take a look at today’s field:
1)CHILLIOLO(FR)—20/1—nortzno2 sends out this filly out of PRIOLO with a record of 1-1-0-0 and $6,240 in lifetime earnings. Her sire has a 29.4% winners percentage with a 60%-40% dirt to turf ratio and this will be the first stakes start for any of his offspring. The average yearly earning of his prodegy is $2,657. This filly won her debut race in a 4.5 furlong MSW on the turf in Wisconsin by posting a 61 speed rating in a solid closing effort. Her style may show her to be more than able to handle the extra ground in today’s race. The 3rd place horse from her debut race went on to win her next start over the dirt. Ingram (12.5%) will be the rider for this filly today.
2)BONEZIP RIP(KY)—5/2—ksparrow11 sends out this filly out of CITY ZIP with a record of 3-2-0-0 and lifetime earnings of $27,700. She is the first foal out of the mare CATBONE CLAWS who was 3/24 with no stakes wins at the track. The sire has a 60.8% of winners and a 3.8% of stakes winners with average yearly earnings of $27,112 for his prodegy. This filly began her career on the dirt but has been 2/2 since switching to the turf. Her speed rating have improved by one point each week with her lifetime best mark of 69 being posted 3 weeks ago in an NW2L allowance score. She comes from the ksparrow barns who have a 15.7% winning percentage with over 1200 wins to their credit. Stinson (12.1%) should have this one near the frontrunners in this race with her stalking style.
3)QUALITY FIELD ETS(KY)—5/1—teds sends out this filly out of ELUSIVE QUALITY with a record of 1-1-0-0 and lifetime earning of $6,240. Her sire has a 72.7% winners percentage and an 8.2% stakes winners percentage with average yearly earnings of $52,628 for his prodegy. She races for the stables of the Minnesota Downs track manager Theo who has over 1050 wins in his 2+ years racing. This filly won her debut on the dirt in an Iowa MSW with a 60 speed rating over 6 furlongs and her connections figured to quickly find out which surface she will prefer by entering in today’s turf sprint. She stalked the pace in her first start and will have the services of this barns usual rider in the Australian Flash Johnno Ritorto (10.2%). The owner/jockey combination had a 2nd place finish in the feature race here last week.
4)ABSOLUTE HD(ENG)—5/1—jockfan02 sends out this filly out of HAAFHD(AUS) with a record of 2-1-0-1 and lifetime earnings of $14,016. She is out of the mare ABSOLUTE ZERO(AUS) who was 2/34 with no stakes victories at the track. Her sire has 44.8% winners and 3.4% stakes winners with an average yearly earning rate of $26,782 for his prodegy. She races for the 39 stables conglomerate of the jockfan stables. She won her debut MSW race in New Jersey over 6 furlongs while posting a nice 70 speed rating for her first lifetime start. In her second start she tried stalking and faded in the stretch finishing 3rd in a 4 horse field while regressing to a 49 speed rating in the 5.5 NW2L allowance. Her conncetions hope that this was only a bounce from her debut race and that she can return to form in today’s stake feature. Adams (5%) will be in the irons today.
5)METEOR ROCKS(KY)—11/1—tabascomet sends this filly out of BIRDSTONE in her lifetime debut stakes. She races for the 44 stables conglomorate of local Minnesota trainer Chuckrock who is closing in on 900 wins for his career. Her sire has a 43% of winners with a 5.8% of stake winners and average yearly earnings of $24,561 for his prodegy. His lines point out to a 84%-16% dirt to turf and an 33%-67% sprint to route which has the local crowd questioning this debut spot for this filly, it is possible with his 100+ starters per week that the wrong horse was sent out to this race. When we cornered Chuckrock in the local tavern he replied naww—I just want to get my hands on the local Minnesota 200 credit prize. We were not able to determine how many pints Mr Chuckrock had consumed prior to our interview. He was able to convince S. Upertoy (8.3%) to ride his filly today, and it should be noted that supetoy slick was the winning jockey in last weeks feature race. Perhaps with continued success he will once again become a full time jockey and part himself from riding in the junior charriot cart races held at nigh in New Jersey.
6)STORM STREET(KY)—9/5—greyghost sends this filly out of TROPICAL STORM in her debut race today. She is out of the mare GUILTY CONDUCT(IRE) who was 3/27 with no stakes wins at the track. Ths sire has a 44.4% winners and this filly will be making the first stakes start from any of his offspring today. The average yearly earnings of his prodegy is $9,844 with a 55%-45% dirt to turf and a 87%-13% sprint to route ratio. She races for the Fortune 500 group of stables who are 3 shy of their 850th win. Not sure why the local Minnesota Track Handicapper Lord Cothill has made this filly the heavy morning line favorite unless he is just trying to set up the odds on the horse he will be wagering on in this event. One of the big pluses going for this filly is that she will be in the hands of the talented Friar (19.7%) who is one of the top riders in the local Minnesota colony.
7)ZANZARA(IRE)—9/2—ceclaim8 sends out this filly out of REFUSE TO BEND(IRE) with a record of 1-1-0-0 and $13,980 in lifetime earnings. Her sire has a 51.4% winners rate and 4.7% stakes winners rate with average yearly earnings of $33,594 for his prodegy. The sire also has a 32%-68% dirt to turf ratio and 38%-62% sprint to route ratio. The local Minnesota crowd welcomes this horse form the Royal Belgian Kemper Farms for our Belgian Day at the track which will feature local Belgian cuisine and cultural events. This filly won her MSW debut in Colorado with a stalking style posting a 56 speed rating over the 5.5 furlong race. She will be in the hands of the circuits leading rider Bowen(20.8%) who should help this one’s ability in this race.
NOTE #3 QUALITY FIELD ETS AND #5 METEOR ROCKS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE 200 CREDIT MINNESOTA DOWNS RESIDENT BONUS.
Hmmm—who will be the speed here, will the dirt to turf switch work, will the unraced fillies surprise here, the big question is who is Lord Cothill backing in this race. For me, I am forced to go with #3 in this race as since I own this horse and was caught betting on any other I would be in violation of the local racing commissions rules.
WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE MINNESOTA RESIDENCE THIS WEEK
We at Minnesota Downs are very proud of our resident RAFA who won the Bluegrass Derby last week with his Minnesota stabled ATAUN(KY) out of his PALMISLAND stables. Congrats to you Rafa and you horse will be featured in our front entrance museum.
Randy won the speed rating contest last week with his horse Golden Skies who posted a 101 speed rating and that won his stables 200 credits.
Cothill is back to defend his No Mercy handicapping contest title with the start of the new competition this week.
With 2 weeks to go in the Mountains of Money contest Cothill leads Randy by a mere $6.30 and that contest should go right to the wire to see who wins.
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING
THEO