ALTOONA, Iowa – Prairie Meadows, whose stakes program rose to new heights in 2012, will begin its 67-day Thoroughbred season April 19 with a similar look as last year. Racing will be conducted from Thursday to Sunday each week until Aug. 10.
The lone exception to the schedule is that there will be racing Wednesday, July 3, to accommodate the track’s fireworks show.
Among the attractions on an excellent Friday undercard is the $65,000 Dream Supreme, an overnight stakes slotted as the second of 12 races. Salty Strike, a winner in 4 of 8 starts this year, looks like the horse to beat in a field of seven fillies and mares going six furlongs.
“This looks like a really good spot for her,” said trainer Ken McPeek. “She didn’t run as well as we thought she would” when finishing third as the favorite in the Grade 2 Chilukki nearly three weeks ago, “but overall she’s had a great year, and she loves Churchill.”
The 31st running of the the Grade 3 Gardenia Stakes on Saturday - the showcase of the Ellis Park meeting in Henderson, Ky. - shapes up as arguably the best race in the track’s 90-year history. The field of 11 fillies and mares includes four graded stakes winners: Salty Strike, Juanita, Joyful Victory, and Sassy Image.
ALTOONA, Iowa -- Salty Strike's determined late bid was good enough for a nose victory over the game pacesetter Starlite Starbrite in Friday night's co-featured $60,000 Prairie Rose Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
Under a stiff drive from jockey Shane Laviolette, favorite Salty Strike ($3.80) registered her fifth lifetime tally and her first outside of her favored Churchill Downs main track. Trained by Ken McPeek for owner Craig B. Singer, Salty Strike managed a rally over a sloppy track, covering the six furlongs in 1:09.85.
ALTOONA, Iowa – With the Iowa Festival of Racing looming large the last weekend of June, Prairie Meadows conducts local preps for the Festival’s two sprint races, the $100,000 Saylorville and the $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap, this Friday night.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a battle of Churchill Downs specialists, Salty Strike proved the queen of the Churchill main track by defeating favored Dancinginherdreams by four lengths in the $87,700 Dream Supreme Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup undercard.
The race was essentially won with a move on the turn under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who sent Salty Strike toward the inside to rally, saving valuable ground.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Salty Strike surged to her first stakes victory Saturday, getting a perfect stalking trip under Manny Cruz in the 37th running of the Grade 3, $109,300 Dogwood Stakes at Churchill Downs.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – With Gulfstream Park-based Salty Strike arriving at Oaklawn Park over the weekend and Rigoletta touching down in Arkansas late Wednesday morning from Southern California, the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee will have coast-to-coast representation Saturday.
