Minnesota Festival 2011 Recap
The Minnesota Festival! One of the most respected and looked forward to traditions in the SIM, it has been around since Supertoy ran the Minnesota residency! Now in it’s 11th year, the festival continues to bring the best racing and huge purses to the loyal residents of Minnesota!
Johnno continued the tradition and it was later handed over to Theo. When Theo had some health problems, Chuckrock stepped in and made it even bigger. Although I can certainly not fill those shoes, I have done my best to keep the tradition moving forward with the help of our fabulous residents.
This year’s event will be spanning a 2 week period, with a total of 23 races at the Minnesota track. Week one just concluded with 13 stake races out of the 16 resident restricted events. The crown jewels of the day were the Minnesota Derby, a 1 million dollar race for 3 year old colts and the Minnesota Classic another 1 million dollar affair for older horses at a mile and a quarter. In addition there were 2 – $500,000 races and a number of $250,000 and $125,000 events.
Let’s recap the winners and highlight some of the tremendous competition and trainer accomplishments.
We had a major upset in race #1 as jrodneyg’s horse EXCLUSIVE BUDDY(CA) won the Minnesota Distaff with a purse of $50,000. The 4 year old mare by SEATTLE BUDDY x BUCKLEY BOY x EXCLUSIVE NATIVE returned $53 for a winning ticket!
Race 2 was taken by rcdlogan’s OVERDONE ENGLISH(KY). The 3 year old stake placed filly won the Miss Minnesota Turf with an impressive 104 speed figure over the 9 furlong distance. Watch out for this one in 2012, she looks like she is just coming into her own.
The first of 13 stake races, the $75,000 Dr. Fager Turf Sprint was won by A PERFECT SATURDAY(KY). The 5 year old horse went a nice 108 for the 6 ½ furlongs and picked up the 19th win of his career! He ran 2nd in this same race in 2010.
LAST ACT(KY) won the Minnesota Mare Sprint in race 4. The 4 year old sired by YES IT’S TRUE x MEADOWLAKE x QUIET AMERICAN, covered the 6.5 furlong event in 106. This was the 5th win of 2011 for the Prebola trained entry.
Race 5 brought the Minnesota Matron Classic, a $75,000 mile and a quarter contest for older mares. Kirby’s FLASH N STYLE(KY) was the easy winner here in a fast 111 spf. The 5 year old has now won 3 in a row and 4 of her last 5. This was a lifetime best for the mare who was a stake winner earlier in the year.
Next up was the Minnesota Dirt Mile. STRIKEMAN(TUR) took this one by 2 lengths over Zman’s GOOD NIGHT JANE(KY). It was the first stake win for rcdlogan’s 4 year old, but he has been extremely consistent lately finishing 1st or 2nd in his last 9 starts!
Now we’re starting to get into the really fun races with the 2 and 3 year old MN championships on the line!! The first was the The Minnesota Miss Juvenile for 2YO fillies at 8.5 furlongs. Team CK’s CK BRIDLE THE MOON(JPN) took the honors along with the lions share of the $125,000 purse. The ADMIRE MOON daughter started on turf but has now won back to back stake races on dirt and looks to be a factor in the 3 year jewels.
The Minnesota Juvenile Championship was won by Dundey’s AT THE BENCH(ENG) by one length over jrodneyg’s BEANTOWN BIDDER(JPN). The colt ran a solid 94 and is out of the broodmare ORGANIC PROJECT who now has 8 stake winners (4 graded) out of 10 total foals.
The highest speed figure of the day was recorded in race 9 by TAPIT GOLD(KY) who won the Minnesota Turf Mile with an impressive 112. It was also one of the closest races of the day as he won by only a neck over Cothill’s DEEP LAKE CH(AUS) who also posted a 112. This was an even bigger accomplishment considering that Tapit Gold is only a 3 year old and beat older here. This colt was claimed for 50,000 and he has since won 4 times in 7 turf starts; Redhill looks to have a real good one on his hands here.
Previously mentioned broodmare, Organic Project notches her second win of the day as BIOCHEMISTRY(LA) takes the $250,000 Minnesota Sprint by a 1 ¼. Picking up his 17th win, the 4 year old by BRAHMS has won 3 of his last 4 and finished in 2nd place in last year’s Minnesota Derby to Cothill’s MAKES SENSE EM(KY). The multiple graded stakes winner also took the IHM Rockets Memorial on festival day as a 2 year old in 2009. As an aside, Makes Sense Em ran in this year’s classic, but broke down early.
Race 11 brought the $250,000 The Minnesota Turf field to the gate. Zman did a great job in writing up the preview for this one, give it a read if you get the chance. The mile and a quarter affair was dominated throughout by ZTAG COTC(NZ) who went wire to wire winning by 2 ½ lengths in 111. Cothill’s 4 year old colt won for the 8th time in his career and the former claimer made it 2 excellent wins in a row. It was his first Festival Day start – Prebola’s JUST DIRTY(IRE) rallied strongly for 2nd. The previous 2 time winner of this race, Native IP finished 9th and will be retired to broodmare duties.
The $500,000 Minnesota Oaks for 3 year old fillies was up next, and it brought a mild upset as Zman got his first Festival Day winner with MCATS(KY). The filly rallied strongly from 11th place to win going away by 2 ½ in a strong 103. Sired by SMARTY JONES it was her 5th lifetime win but first at a mile or more in 5 tries. She had been running very well of late however and probably deserved shorter odds than 7-1. The betting favorite CK MOTIVATER(KY) had an off race and finished 9th. BROKEN LINE(JPN) who finished 2nd was also 2nd in the MN – NWRC Challenge back in October. The 2010 Miss Juvy winner CK FORCED HARAD(AUS) decided to skip the Oaks, and ran in the Matron Classic instead, finishing a strong 3rd against older mares.
This year’s co-featured $1,000,000 Minnesota Classic finished the same way as in 2009 and 2010, and maybe its name should be changed in the future to honor it’s now 3 time winner. SPANISH JOHNNY(KY) won this race as a green 3 year old and was easily ahead again at the wire today. The dundey trained 5 year old (KINGMAMBO x SEATTLE SLEW x TOM FOOL) won his 3rd straight classic and 15th race overall. The off track loving horse (6 wins in 7 tries with 1 second) got his first Classic win on a fast track however. Running second was rcdlogan’s SHINER FAME(ARG) (by INDYGO SHINER) who led most of the way and ran a strong 2nd in 108 and just held on over Prebola’s DISTORTED SOUL(KY) who was a solid 3rd also in 108. Johnny will get a rest now, and maybe try for number four in 2012.
The co-featured 14th was The Minnesota Derby for 3 year old colts at a mile. This is always one of the major highlights of festival day and its last several winners have gone on to be excellent older horses. These include the likes of Wild Eddi who broke the stake record running a 1:33 4/5 in the 2009 edition. That only stood for a year as the 2010 winner MAKES SENSE EM(KY) ran a fifth better. Both horses went on to graded stakes success, as did the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from 2010. In fact a total of 6 horses from last years race have been graded winners or placed – a true reflection on the quality of horses and competition here at MN Downs.
Kiddman did a wonderful pre-race preview of this event, that should be read. In this year’s race there were 2 horses sent off at 9-2 and one at 5-1 and they all finished in the top 4. The winner, LUCK BELONGS(LA) ran a solid 106 but was over a second off the stakes record. The Belong to Me sired horse picked up his 7th lifetime win and also completed a rare double, having also won last year’s Minnesota Juvenile. In fact this horse loves MN! He has won 4 times there and been 2nd twice in 6 starts. The field included Kiddman’s KING VICTOR I(JPN), a graded stakes winner who competed on this year’s triple crown trail. He finished 4th is a somewhat off race for the colt. Finishing 2nd was LOOKS GOOD ON YOU(KY), with the quickly improving DIRT ROAD ANTHEM(IRE) getting the show spot.
The whirlwind day concluded with a pair of sprint races for 2 year olds, The IHM Rockets Memorial stake and The Team CK Maiden. The former was won by IM A VEG(LA), our second winner sired by Brahms in a speedy 90 sp. The filly picked up her 4th win in 6 tires and second stakes victory. She faded in her only route try, so may not be a factor in the 3 year old filly classics in 2012. The final race was taken by MEET THE SKY(KY), who broke her maiden at 15-1 in her 6th lifetime start. The filly is well bred (SKY MESA x GENERAL MEETING x MR. PROSPECTOR) and this may be the start of a nice 3 year old season.
To sum up we had some favorites, a couple long shots and some REALLY competitive racing. It was a fun day and I know that the residents of MN are looking forward to the additional 7 races planned for next week and of course the 12th edition of the MN Festival in 2012!
Congratulations to all the winners and everyone that took part in this great day!!!