Call it the Big House on the Prairie this Friday night. Prairie Meadows will host four $100,000 stakes -- including the Iowa Distaff and Iowa Sprint – as part of a 50-cent All-Stakes Pick 4 wager. Here’s a closer look at the action:
RACE 6 (9:11PM ET) // $100K IOWA DISTAFF S.
BUTTERBEAN follows a similar path into the Iowa Distaff as she did in winning the Grade III Iowa Oaks a year ago. She rallied from last-to-first in her prep race over the track and repeated the move in the Oaks with Glenn Corbett aboard. Roll the clock forward and she circled the field to win the $50,000 Jack Bishop to prep at tonight’s 1-1/16-mile distance. While she is the one to beat, her late-running style is compromised by a projected soft pace. That benefits COASTAL CHARM, who raced up-close and held clear stretch leads in 5 of 6 route races this year, winning three times to prove a blockbuster $30,000 claim. ICE ORCHID also looms a front-end threat from the rail. She was eased in the stretch when last seen in March, but the multiple Grade III-placed 4-year-old appears primed for her return off a series of bullet workouts.
RACE 7 (9:40PM ET) // $100K IOWA SPRINT S.
The seven entrants in the Iowa Sprint are a combined 28-79 at 6F with average earnings of $170,000 at the distance. STROBE won his first four 6F races by a total of 21-3/4 lengths before the streak was ended by SKELLY is the Grade III Count Fleet at Oaklawn Park. He was ‘slowly getting to the winner’ but settled for second best behind a rival who was winning for the fifth consecutive time with an average 100 Beyer speed figure. Also note that Cogburn, the seventh-place finisher in the Count Fleet, came back to win two turf sprint stakes and Candy Man Rocket, who finished last in the Count Fleet, won the Grade III Runhappy at Belmont next out. All said, STROBE is a solo play in the Pick 4 despite carrying 126 pounds for the first time.
RACE 8 (10:09PM ET) // $100K PRAIRIE GOLD LASSIE S.
CROWN IMPERIAL accelerated quickly at the quarter pole, wandered slightly in early stretch, but straightened out to run past the even-money leader and gallop out farther in front in her debut. KISS awakened in her second start, setting the pace and repelling a bid from a favored first-time starter to prevail against Kentucky-breds at Ellis Park. TX WOMEN FOR ARTS disappointed in her debut off a pair of fast gate works, then beat a weak field from post 12 in a turf-to-dirt sprint. She is an obvious contender in the Prairie Gold Lassie but not worth a short price in the Pick 4 sequence.
RACE 9 (10:38PM ET) // $100K SAYLORVILLE S.
Half of the 12 entrants in the Saylorville arrive from different tracks around the country, three come off stakes wins at the 6F distance and five earned the top speed figures of their career last out. FIRE ON TIME earned favoritism with a runner-up finish to champion Echo Zulu in the Grade III Winning Colors at Churchill Downs, but there’s so many live alternatives, hit the ‘ALL’ button in the Pick 4.
MY TICKET (50-CENT BASE)
- RACE 6: 1, 4
- RACE 7: 7
- RACE 8: 2, 7
- RACE 9: ALL
- COST: $24.00
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