Assiniboia Downs: Golden Stripe on the rail for Matron

Golden Stripe, entering off an easy win in the one-mile Distaff for Manitoba-breds, will be looking to come right back when she faces six other fillies and mares in the 1 1/8-mile Matron at Assiniboia Downs on Monday.

A win or a second-place finish in the $50,000 Matron would push Golden Stripe past $300,000 in career earnings for her owner/breeder Phil Kives.

The 7-year-old, trained by Shelley Brown since 2010, has won 10 races, with her eight stakes scores including the last three runnings of the Distaff, but a victory in the Matron would be her biggest to date in an open race.

Renaldo Cumberbatch will ride Golden Stripe for the first time Monday as she breaks from post 1 in the field of seven who will compete under equal weights at 123 pounds.

Her most formidable rival could prove to be Quinichette, a Minnesota invader who is a proven middle-distance runner.

Conditioned by Bernell Rhone, Quinichette was claimed for $25,000 at Tampa Bay Downs this winter and is coming off a respectable fourth-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Minnesota HBPA Distaff at Canterbury Park.

Adolfo Morales has picked up the mount on Quinichette.

Hello, coming off a three-quarter-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Winnipeg Sun, and Jilleah, successful in last year’s six-furlong Chantilly at Assiniboia Downs, are the only other local stakes winners in the lineup.

Lorna Gray trains Hello, a Pennsylvania-bred 5-year-old who ran the best race of her career when upsetting Golden Stripe in the Winnipeg Sun.

Paul Nolan returns aboard Hello, who was receiving six pounds from Golden Stripe when making her last appearance in that Aug. 3 stakes.

Jilleah was last in the field of four that day, beaten 10 3/4 lengths, but came back to win with a $15,000 tag in a six-furlong optional claimer.

Jennifer Reid again gets the call on Jilleah, who is trained by Gary Danelson.

Rounding out the field will be City Splash, who has placed in three stakes including last year’s Matron and the last two runnings of the Winnipeg Sun; the in-form A.P. Diva; and longshot She’s Scary.