THIS WEEK IN MINNESOTA—WEEK 3371

The 2 year olds take centrestage again at Minnesota Downs in this weeks 10th race feature. The Summer Mill Bonanza Stakes has a field of 7 entered to go 1 1/16th miles on the Supertoy 7 Marshall Turf course and is offering a purse of $45,000.

Let’s take a look at today’s field:

1)SEEKING THE RAT(KY)—9/2—darnath2 sends this colt out of SEEKING THE GOLD with a record of 5-1-0-1 and lifetime earnings of $35,180. This unranked colt races for the local Darnath stables who’s purple and gold silks with everybody’s favorite rodent on the front is a mainstay at the Minnesota Downs residency. While this colt won his debut race on the dirt his progression in his next 2 starts did not satisfy his connections who switched him to the turf last time out right here at Minnesota in an overnite stakes. He ended up last in the 5 horse field but was never very far out of it. He returns here today to attempt to improve on that effort. His lifetime best speed rating to date was 2 starts back when he finished 3rd in The Perfect Ant Cap in Oklahoma over 8 furlongs on the turf where he posted a 79 speed rating. His top rating on the turf is a 70 posted last time out over 5.5 furlongs on the turf here at Minnesota. While he does possess some speed he probably will clear the front in this race today as there is not much speed showing with the other entries today, but he did improve when stretching out to a route on the dirt so hopefully the same will come true on the turf today. The rider for today’s race will be Stinson(9%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—76.

2)CRIME BEAT(IRE)—9/2—lenny4 sends this filly out of DANEHILL DANCER(IRE) with a record of 4-4-0-0 and lifetime earnings of $63,300. She is out of the he-mare SIMPLY PERFECT who was 3/22 at the track. This 85th divisional ranked filly races for Lenny’s Evil Empire based at the GR Simsters. This filly is a perfect 4/4 lifetime while running out her conditions up the allowance ranks in Ontario, Canada. She comes down to the US for her stakes debut today and will be racing against the boys for the first time in her brief career today. Many would not try to run against the boys so early in her career but with the previous success of this longtime sim trainer who is going to second guess him. She has been pulling away from her competion in the late stretch in all of her starts and with the last 2 at 8 furlongs it would seem to be that she will have no problem stretching out further today. She posted her lifetime best speed rating of 80 last time out over 8 furlongs on the turf. It should be noted that her last 3 starts have been against small 4 horse fields and while today’s field is not all that much larger it is expected she will have a harder challenge today. The rider for today’s race will be the apprentice jockey E R Cothill (14.6%) who is becoming one of the go to guys here in his first season of riding at Minnesota Downs. PROJECTED SPEED RATING—72

3)CAPTAIN FIDDLE(JPN)—6/1—togaparty sends this colt out of STRAVINSKY with a record of 7-1-3-0 and lifetime earnings of $47,169. This unranked colt races for the unafilliated Togasans stables. This colt broke his maiden last time out in his 7th lifetime start after coming close in his 2 races prior. He has demonstrated the turf to be his favored surface as he has not looked very good on the 2 races he ran over the dirt. He posted his lifetime best speed rating of 81 last time out over 8 furlongs on the turf. His style suggests he will sit just off the pace a few lengths back and will start his move around the far turn. He has lost ground in some of his previous races so he will have to keep his mind on the job to be succesfull late in the stretch here today. The rider for today’s race will be Foster (9.3%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—79.

4)ESPARTACO(ENG)—5/1—chevrolet sends this colt out of RAINBOW QUEST with a record of 6-2-1-2 and lifetime earnings of $85,340. He is out of the he-mare HYATT(IRE) who was 10/39 at the track. This 82nd divisional ranked colt is based over at the Hispano Parlante residency. This colt won back to back races earlier this year including a win in The City Wrapping Handicap Stakes in Norway. He then moved up to a Grade III race where he finsished in 8th before back to back 3rd place finishes in overnite stakes in his last 2 starts. He posted his lifetime best 78 speed rating in that stakes win earlier this year over 6 furlongs on a good turf. While he did run at today’s distance in his last race he really did not show all that much in the 4 horse field and will need to improve here today. It is expected that he will sit near the back early today and will the save his best for the stretch run. The rider for today’s race will be Friar (18%) who is in a tough battle in the jockey standings here at Minnesota Downs this year. PROJECTED SPEED RATING—75.

5)DIFFERENT TIZNOW(KY)—3/1—josecuervo sends this colt out of TIZNOW with a record of 7-1-1-3 and lifetime earnings of $46,588. He is out of the mare SISTER DIFFERENT who was 1/3 at the track and who has 3 foals on record, all winners. This 274th divisional ranked colt races for the Pastures of Green divsion of The Red Dirt Runners in Vermont. This colt’s first 5 lifetime starts were on the dirt and he has won his only race to date on that surface. He has run on the turf in his last 2 starts where he has finished in the top 3 in allowance races over 8 furlongs. His best races are run as a closer and if he comes up firing he should enjoy the extra ground in today’s race. He posted his lifetime best 84 speed rating last time out in an 8 furlong turf allowance race. The rider for today’s race will be the Australian Flash, J Ritorto (12.5%) who is having a very good season riding at Minnesota Downs this year. PROJECTED SPEED RATING—85.

6)FRIVOLA(IRE)—8/1—zatopeck sends this filly out of AD VALOREM with a record of 5-2-1-1 and lifetime earnings of $32,217. She is out of the mare AMAIA who was 5/33 at the track and who has 2 foals on record, both winners. This divisional unranked filly races for the NWRC division of Rafa stables who also has some of his stables barned here locally at Minnesota Downs. This filly comes into this race on a 2 race winning streak picking up her MSW and an allowance win in turf 8 furlong races. She posted her lifetime best 79 speed rating last time out over 8 furlongs on yielding turf. She has races against the boys prior in her only dirt start where she finished midpack. She has displayed a closing style in her last few races and should enjoy the extra ground here today. Whether or not she can compete against the boys will be one of the questions here today. The rider for today’s race will be Hendrickson (3.8%). PROJECTED SPEED RATING—73.

7)ZIGGY RULES(IRE)—3/1—overbrooks sends this colt out of AUSSIE RULES with a record of 7-5-0-0 and lifetime earnings of $269,190. He is out of the mare ANALYZE THIS(IRE) who was 8/45 at the track and who has only this foal on record to date. This 18th divisional ranked colt is based out of the Fortune 500 residency. After only a so-so debut race this colt went on a 5 race winning streak tear that included a win in The Grade III Goats That Faint Juvenile where she surprised the Epsom crowd winning at 14/1. He broke her win streak when finishing 4th in another Graded start but rebounded last time out to win The Carney Memorial Stakes in Virginia where he posted her lifetime best 83 speed rating over the 8.5 furlong race in a minimum 4 horse field. He is another who shows his best when closing, and one of the problems with this race is there does not seem to be much speed so the pace could end up to being a slow one. The rider for today’s race will be Bowen (19.7%) who is the current leader in the rider standings at Minnesota Downs this season. PROJECTED SPEED RATING—86.

NOTE #1 SEEKING THE RAT(KY) IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE 200 CREDIT MINNESOTA DOWNS RESIDENCY PURSE SUPPLEMENT SHOULD HE WIN THE RACE.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE MINNESOTA DOWNS RESIDENCY THIS WEEK

The 10th leg of the Minnesota Sire Series 2 for GULCH sire horses is running as the 16th race this week. This race will mark the halfway mark of the contest and currently Fred leads the series with his colt Ridin’ Shotgun.

All 4 of the 2nd round matchups in The Minnesota Cup 07 contest are tied at 1-1. The third game of the best of 5 series’s will be played this weekend.

Wenlock won last week’s high speed rating contest when his horse KVORT posted a 110 speed rating and that earned him a 200 credit prize.

In the Minnesota Last Man Standing contest last weekend Nameless’s Mr Hagar won again making him the heavy contest favorite and Chuckrock’s Lemiwinks finished in last and was eliminated from the competition. The next race will be in week 3392.

This weeks Chuckrock’s Horse of the week award goes to——

“This week’s winner is wenlock’s kvort from his hullwayne stabel, who posted an outstanding 110 sp in an open allowance in athens. this was Kvort’s 16th win in 37 tries, second in his last three. The five year old has a pedigree of CAT THIEF x NORTHERN DANCER x ALYDAR and has spent most of his career on teh turf. Kvort has not tried a stakes race since august of 06, and since that time has posted speeds over 100 in 9 races. Kvort won 6 of his first 7 races on turf as a youngster and is still a force to be reckoned with two and a half years later. congrats to Kvort.

Congrats to Wenlock for this weeks award and 50 credit prize.

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RACING

THEO