THIS WEEK IN MINNESOTA—WEEK 3301
This week’s 10th race feature at Minnesota Downs is The PRO I. Memorial Stakes which is a 7 furlong sprint for 2 year old fillies. The field of 5 will be running on the main dirt track for a purse of $55,000.
Let’s take a look at today’s field:
1)SONGANDARAT(KY)—7/1—drdi sends this filly out of SONGANDAPRAYER with a record of 4-1-0-2 and lifetime earnings of $16,428. This filly runs for the local Darnath outfit and should be the fan favorite today. It is a special day today at Minnesota Downs as we are having our anual SALUTE THE RODENT day at the track and it is perfect that the purple and gold silks with the Minny Downs favorite furry creature on the front has an entry in today’s feature race. This filly is a frontrunning girl who will be making her 3rd stakes race run today. She has hung around for minor shares in her previous 2 black type races and will need to rate her speed to handle today’s increase in distance. She posted her lifetime best speed rating of 69 in her second lifetime start which was her MSW win right here in Minnesota. Hopefully she can find the winners circle again with the home field advantage. The rider for today’s race will be Stinson (9.7%).
2)DANCE AWAY RENEE(KY)—6/5—hornedfrog sends this filly out of CAME HOME with a record of 4-3-0-1 and lifetime earnings of $210,320. She is out of the mare DEGA’S DANCER who was 6/45 at the track and this is the only foal on record. This 4th ranked filly has shipped in from Kentucky for the hornedfrog racing outfit. This filly won her first 3 lifetime starts including The Grade II Vermont BB Juvenile Filly Stakes. Her win streak ended in her last start The Grade II Stoker Handicap even though she posted her lifetime best 80 speed rating in the 6.5 furlong sprint. She ended up a rallying third to the local filly SILVER CITY GAL(KY) who came back to win a Grade I race in British Columbia last week. This late running closer should love the extra ground today and is the heavy morning line favorite in this field. The rider for today’s race will be one of the best on the circuit in Friar (19%).
3)THE WIGGLE WAGGLER(KY)—3/1—brookline sends this filly out of GOOD REWARD with a record of 4-2-0-1 and lifetime earnings of $65,120. She is out of the mare SILENTLY GOING who was 5/44 at the track and who has 5 foals on record of which all are winners with 1 stakes winner and another a Graded stakes winner. This 25th divisional ranked filly runs for the Spinround stables based in Ireland. This filly bypassed the MSW level and won her lifetime debut in a 2 year old filly open allowance with an impressive 73 debut speed rating. She came back to win another allowance but has found her last 2 races, both Grade II events a little more difficult to handle. She posted her lifetime best 75 speed rating last time out while finishing 6th in The Grade II Stoker Handicap and will have to face DANCE AWAY RENEE, who has beaten her in her last 2 starts, again her today. She is another closing filly who settles to the back of the pack early so the extra ground should be helpfull today. The rider for today’s race will be Boothroy (8.6%).
4)NAMANTI(KY)—2/1—har sends this filly out of CAT THIEF with a record of 5-1-2-1 and lifetime earnings of $46,845. She is out of the mare SAL INDY ME who was 6/45 at the track and who has foals on record with this filly the only to have made it to the races so far. This 72nd divisional ranked filly runs for the NWRC division of the Rafa stables who is no stranger to Minnesota Downs as he keeps a string of horses right here in the backstretch. This filly has finished in the money in her last 4 starts and posted her lifetime best 79 speed rating in her next to last start while finishing 2nd in a NW1X allowance in Utah. She ran in her first unrestricted stakes race last time out in the slop where she made a mild rally to end up in third place. She is one of 3 closers in today’s race so positioning for the stretch drive will be important today. The rider for today’s race will be Annika (7.7%).
5)CHACHIN A HEAD(KY)—9/1—bunbury sends this filly out of CROMWELL with a record of 3-2-0-1 and lifetime earnings of $58,084. This 51st divisional ranked filly runs for the unafilliated Chacho’s Empire Racing Syndicate. After debuting in 3rd in a MSW race this speedy filly has posted back to back wins including her win last time out in The Chello Stakes in Montana where she posted a lifetime best 75 speed rating in the 6.5 furlong race. She will be on the lead with SONGANDARAT today and will need to ensure that she can survive any speed duel to be factor in the final furlong against the onslaught of the closers. The rider for today’s race will be Bannon (8.2%).
#1 SONGANDARAT is eligible for the Minnesota Downs Residency 200 credit purse supplement if she should win the race today.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE MINNESOTA DOWNS RESIDENCE THIS WEEK
After suffering through some technical difficulties of late our resident Tech Wizard from Ozland Johnno in conjunction with our IT department head JKJ from Illinois were able to get the software for the Minnesota entries and trainers program to work again and a new 13 week competition will begin this week. These glitches are on account to the hardware at Minnesota Downs as we are still operating on a 8086 processor system which means that by the time we have the results for the 2007 race in our books the 2008 race is loaded into the gate and ready to run.
The top 3 in The Minnesota Downs BP contest thru the end of racing in July are 1)Theoldguy with his Blackbart stable—1835 BP’s, 2)Taboo with his Quietjohn stable—1282 BP’s and 3)John with his Kirby88 stable—1277 BP’s. The top 3 trainers at the end of the year receive credit prizes.
The top 3 in The Minnesota Downs $$$ contest thru the end of racing in July are 1)Rafa with his Palmisland stable—$2,444,068, 2)John with his Kingkirby stable—$1,565,618 and 3)Brentuk with his Brentuk stable—$1,091,367. The top 3 trainers at the end of the year receive a credit prize.
Last weeks Speed Rating contest winner was Theo (moi) who’s horse KING SUPERTOY won with a 100 speed rating edging out Dundey’s THE CURSE LIVES by only 4/100’th of a point.
This weeks Chuckrock’s horse of the week is “This week’s award goes to a horse that was claimed may 2, 2006. Since that time he has raced 17 times under his new silks. It was not until this past week that the 4000 dollar investment paid off with a win. Hottt Shot won a 4k claiming race in South Dakota for the Theodore9 stable. Theo, i think, has just discovered that this horse like the off dirt as he has 2 wins and 2 places in 5 off track starts. Additionally his lone 100+ run came on an off track in puerto rico.
this past week Hottt Shot ran a 90 Sp winning the 5 furlong race in 57 4/5. Hottt Shot stayed a couple of lengths off the lead until the last call when he sprinted and took the lead with about 5 strides to go. A hell of a win for a solid horse. Congrats theo! “After learning he had received the award Theo responded”Thanks chuck, Well you cannot say that I easily give up on a horse but I limit my claims to having to win in their first 17 races or else they are out and I guess the Hottt shot got kinda comfortable in his stall at Minnesota. My new stradegy for this horse is to payoff the track maintenance workers before each of his races and to dump millions of gallons of water on the track 1 minute before post time.”
GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING
THEO