Arapahoe: Front Range Stakes looks wide open

Seven stakes winners are among the nine horses entered in the $40,000 Front Range at Arapahoe Park on Sunday. The field for the seven-furlong race includes the winners of the meet’s last two sprint stakes, E F Five and No It Ain’t, as well as defending Front Range winner Hezamazing and sharp Idaho invader Memo to Mya.

E F Five showed exceptional speed when winning the $43,000 Aspen for Colorado-breds in his most recent start on June 15. He blitzed an opening half-mile in 43.80 seconds before winning the six-furlong race in 1:09.80. He drew the rail for the Front Range and is a candidate to control the pace under regular rider Kelly Bridges.

E F Five, owned by Linda Robertson and trained by Kenneth Gleason, is also proven at the race’s distance, having won the Front Range in 2011.

No It Ain’t won the $40,000 Arapahoe Sprint in his previous start on June 2, closing from next to last to upset the field at 25-1. He covered six furlongs in 1:10.40 in what was his first start in ten weeks. Karlo Lopez was aboard and has the mount again Sunday for trainer Temple Rushton.

Hezamazing was sixth in the Arapahoe Sprint, but the added ground he picks up Sunday should benefit the seven-time stakes winner who last year closed from more than 10 lengths back to win the Front Range.

Memo to Mya enters Sunday’s race off back-to-back stakes wins at Le Bois Park.

The other stakes winners in the Front Range are Treacherous, Dance to the Star, and Behold de Buy, who romped in the allowance prep for Sunday’s race. The field is completed by the stakes-placed Sinaan and allowance winner Ghost Vapors, who is a half-brother to Grade 2 winner Forest Music.