The 11th Annual Minnesota Turf
Welcome race fans, to a sunny cold Minnesota Saturday of racing!!! But not just any card of racing, this week brings the 11th Annual Minnesota Festival race card!!!!!
This tradition is deep in our residency roots and is a day that every member looks forward to all year long. In fact over the last few years the festival has grown to 2 weeks and this year a total of 23 races will be run!!
This week we have all 16 races dedicated to MN residents and their well bred steeds. 13 of the races are stakes, and one of the richest in tradition is race 13, THE $250,000 MINNESOTA TURF. Talk about a close race! Four of the horses in this 10 horse field are listed at 5-1 on the morning line, with 2 others going in at 6-1, wow!
Let’s look at the runners.
#1 EVE OF THE STORM(AUS) is a 6 year old horse trained by Dundey Acres. He has 13 wins in 44 lifetime turf races but the majority of those are long sprints or mile affairs. The 1o furlong distance of todays race may be a bit too much. Still he has posted nice speed figures recently with a 105 and 106 in his last 4 starts. May have a chance. He was 2nd in last years Minnesota Turf Mile and 4th in the same event in 2009.
#2 THIS HARD LAND(JPN) – trained by yours truly, this 4 year old son of Deep Impact has won 7 of 32 races, split almost evenly between the turf and dirt. This colt ran in last year’s MN Derby, placing 8th. He has been very consistent lately and has a good chance to hit the board (I hope!).
#3 CK BANG ON(IRE) is trained by Team CK and looks to beat the boys today. The 4 year daughter of Galileo only has 2 wins in 23 lifetime races but has been very good in her last several starts posting career best Sp’s in 2 of them. This will be her first festival race and she looks to be improving with age.
#4 NATIVE IP(KY) – the second entry from Dundey comes in to this race at 22-1. Big odds for a horse that has won the last 2 MN Turf races! That’s right, this 6 year old mare won this race in 2009 and 2010, with an SP of 111 on an off track. A repeat of that will probably get it done this year too! But based on her last 6 starts that is unlikely to happen and Dundey has told me that it’s the breeding shed for her after this race.
#5 DYNACIELO TOO(KY) is a 4 year colt trained by Minnesota’s fine conditioner Twaits. The son of Dynaformer broke his maiden in his 8th lifetime start and now has 4 turf wins from 20 starts. He is a first time festival starter but has been extremely consistent. Hitting the board in an impressive 18 of 20 on the grass, it looks like he is just coming into the prime of his career, based on his easy win in 105 last out. Strong contender here.
#6 JUST DIRTY(IRE) – one of 5 females in this race (half of the field) this good looking 4 year old is also sired by Galileo. Prebola trains this one and she is looking for her 5th win in just her 17th lifetime start. She’s won 3 of her last 4 starts, the last one by an impressive margin and lifetime best 103 sp #. That race was at today’s distance and I think this filly will be very dangerous in this spot.
#7 ZTAG COTC(NZ) – Cothill sends out this 4 year colt by Zabeel. He has 7 wins and has been in the money in 19 of 23 lifetime turf races. It seems that so many horses in this race are peaking, I think many of these trainers may have pointing for this race! Ztag Cotc won his last out by 5 lengths matching his lifetime best sp of 104. You could have claimed him for 20K 8 starts back, but he’s been improving ever since!
#8 CK FAST SADDLER(AUS) is Team CK’s 2nd entry in this classic race. The 5 year filly sired by Fastnet Rock has won 9 of 36 lifetime races, with over 200K in earnings. She’ll probably add to that amount today! Don’t let the off race on the off track last out fool you. This mare is 0 for 5 in 5 off track starts so throw that one out. Prior to that 7 of her previous 8 starts were triple digit speed figures and she won 4 in a row before her 3rd place finish last time out. She may be best around 9 furlongs but I like her closing style.
#9 JEET(KY) – the best thing that I can say about my 5 year old son of AP Indy is that one of the tracks best jocks – K. Friar is on board! I’m really not sure why he is the co-favorite at 5-1. Jeet did run 6th in last year’s MN Turf but most of his best starts have been at 8 and 8 ½ furlongs.
#10 STORMY TREBRE(KY) – this 4 year old filly is trained by Randy, who always has his horses ready to go. She is a scratch bred, sired by Stormy Atlantic out of a Peintre Celebre mare. This filly has been slugging in out in mostly graded stake races lately and loves the mile and a quarter distance. Five races back she had consecutive starts of 106 and 107 at the distance. A race close to that today puts her right there. She was also the winner of last year’s Minny Miss Turf on Festival day.
This race is almost impossible to handicap, but I’ll give it a shot anyway! My picks are as follows:
1. CK FAST SADDLER(AUS) 5-1
2. JUST DIRTY(IRE) 10-1
3. DYNACIELO TOO(KY) 5-1