SHAKOPEE, MN – Welcome to part three of Minnesota Festival of Champions preview. We waited until late morning so we could get you all the scratches for the night. While there is some light rain in the area, all indications are it’s going to be a beautiful night in Shakopee for the 32nd annual celebration of Minnesota bred Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred racing.
Today we feature the Princess Elaine Distaff Turf, the Blair’s Cove Turf and the Cash Caravan Stakes.
$50,000 Princess Elaine Distaff Turf
The biggest factor in the mile and a sixteenth Princess Elaine is going to be the strategy of Ann Alee and Cupid’s Crush. Both mares have solid early speed and the question for heavily favored Cupid’s Crush is whether she’ll put away Ann Alee early or get caught up in an early speed duel.
In theory the defending champion and multiple stakes winner, Cupid’s Crush, should be an easy winner, but if there is a bit of a prolonged speed battle up front, don’t be surprised if Northern Angel is able to pick up the pieces late. She’s been in the exacta four out of five times this year and her only blemish was going five furlongs to start the season. The route of ground is what she wants so watch the early pace set up and if 1-2 isn’t your idea of a value play, think about Northern Angel.
$50,000 Blair’s Cove Turf
Two of the favorites in the mile and a sixteenth Blair’s Cove, Frosty View and Sushi Man, share one very important trait – top rider Harry Hernandez. Naturally, Hernandez can only ride one and he chose Frosty View.
Frosty View is a speedy 4-year-old trained by Joel Berndt and has notched three monster efforts since moving to the turf full time, including a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in a five-furlong open allowance win to kick off his Canterbury season.
Sushi Man, trained by Coty Rosin, will pick up Eduardo Gallardo for the race. No slouch in the saddle himself, Gallardo is going to have a tough assignment as he picks up another horse with speed as well as a three-year-old going up against older horses for the first time.
Much like in the Princess Elaine, can an early speed duel between favorites set things up for a longer priced closer to sweep on by late and collect the rewards?
Last year’s champion, Half Brother, is a prime candidate to get that done. Erica Murray should have the Gary Scherer trainee well placed early to take advantage of any breakneck battle up front and has the class to get it done. It doesn’t hurt that the five-year-old gelding has been improving each race and could be poised to take one more step forward back against state breds tonight.
Another intriguing possibility is Out of the Dark (Padilla/Quinonez). He’s another that should be flying late and the duo of trainer/co-owner/co-breeder Tim Padilla and co-owner/breeder Pete Mattson always seem to have something up their sleeves and Alonzo Quinonez is their perfect fit to execute their plans.
$20,000 Cash Caravan
The overwhelming favorite in the 440-yard Cash Caravan is Relentless Legacy (Olmstead/Alvidrez). The six-year-old is graded stakes placed and has recorded the best recent Speed Indexes in the field with a 90 last out in capturing the Bob Morehouse. Given a clean break and the Tom Maher owned gelding should take home the trophy.
Tonight’s action starts at 5:00 PM CT. Here are your early changes and course conditions for the eleven-race extravaganza:
TURF: Good
DIRT: Fast
Scratches:
Race 3 – Scent of Success
Race 4 – Carson Bay
Race 5 – It’s Bobs Business
Race 6 – Beep Beep Rev Rev
Good luck to the horses, owners, trainers, jocks and breeders and safe travels to all!
