SHAKOPEE, MN – [EDITORS NOTE: Each day for the rest of the week we will preview a pair of races for Festival Day. Today: Blairs Cove and Princess Elaine Turf Routes.]
Races six and seven on the Festival Day card at Canterbury Park tomorrow night are a pair of mile and sixteenth turf contests: $100,000 Blairs Cove for colts and geldings and $100,000 Princess Elaine for fillies and mares.
First up in the 6th is the Princess Elaine.
Midnight Current, owned and bred by Lothenbach Stables and trained by Joel Berndt, is the 6-5 morning line favorite after reeling off four consecutive victories over the Canterbury grass this season. The four-year-old daughter of Midnight Lute won the 7.5 furlong Minnesota Turf Distaff gate to wire and followed that up with an off the pace win in an open company optional claimer at Saturday’s distance. This will give jockey Harry Hernandez a lot of flexibility once the gates open and the race develops. Lothenbach also has Let’s Skedaddle who finished second to her stablemate in the Minnesota Turf.
Trainer Mac Robertson is rarely without a contender in a Festival race and he has a pair in here as well.
It’s Her Time was an upset winner of the Minnesota Oaks and simply ran the other fillies off their hooves. While she faltered in the six-furlong prep for the Oaks, the added distance did her a world of good and she romped under Constantino Roman and estate of the late Warren Bush who also bred the filly.
The other, Novogratz Racing Stable’s Scent of Success, finished behind the pair of Lothenbach fillies in the Minnesota Distaff Turf and brings speed to the table as well as jockey Alex Canchari.
The Blairs Cove has been dominated by Robertson. He has won eleven of the last thirteen runnings, including last year with Cinco Star. This year he sends a trio to the starting gate with Devil Vision, Xavey Dave and Hot Shot Kid.
Devil Vision is a first off the claim for owner John Mentz and you can be certain that he was claimed for $30,000 with this race clearly in mind. He has won twice over the Canterbury turf and finished in the money in half of his 10 local turf starts. Alex Canchari will be aboard.
Xavey Dave, another Warren Bush homebred, will look to improve off his third-place finish in a $32,615 7.5 furlong open allowance over the turf last out in his first start against older. The additional distance should be a benefit to him as will the return to state bred company.
Veteran campaigner Hot Shot Kid, who is only $19,727 short of passing Mr. Jagermeister as the winningest Minnesota bred in history, will start from the far outside in post twelve. He’ll have to navigate three turns coming out of the chute giving Ry Eikleberry a tricky riding assignment. As the Kid tends to come off the pace, it won’t be as much of a detriment as if he were a need-the-lead type. A second-place finish or victory would ensure that the Kid retires – if he retires – as the leading money winning Minnesota bred.
Berndt and Lothenbach Stables will have a pair to counter the Robertson duo.
Cousinvinnysacanuck was a hard charging second place finisher in the Minnesota Derby earlier this year and is just getting better with every bit of added distance. The son of Malibu Moon out of a Harlan’s Holiday mare will be trying the turf for the first time.
The other part of the uncoupled entry is That’s Not Funny, another three-year-old that earned his way into this field off the strength of three consecutive wins in a maiden breaker, a state bred first level allowance and, on August 31, an open company optional claimer. Both three-year-olds have already beaten older horses so the company should not be an issue.
Ben’s Malice, second in the Mystic Lake Derby over the grass, will be breeder/owner Pete Mattson’s entry under Alonso Quinonez for trainer David Van Winkle while Ralph Strangis runner up, Zoe’s Delight, goes for Winchester Place Thoroughbreds and trainer Tony Rengstorf.
A possible sleeper is Stitzy who hasn’t faced state bred company since August 27, 2020. In his three local starts this year, all in $20,000 optional claiming races, he’s finished third twice and just missed by a head last out. He should have a good stalking trip with Ezekiel Lara who has been red hot the last few weeks.
TOMORROW: The Minnesota Quarter Horse Futurity and Quarter Horse Derby
