Babys Got Track could pick up the pieces

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Leading trainer Phil Hall has a solid one-two punch in a $20,000 overnight handicap for fillies and mares Saturday at Hastings.

Northern Storm will be among the early leaders, and with plenty of other speed in the seven-horse field, there is an excellent chance Babys Got Track will pick up the pieces in the 6 1/2-furlong dash.

In three of her last four starts, Babys Got Track took on the sensational Daz Lin Dawn, who won all seven stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Hastings this year. Daz Lin Dawn’s latest win came in the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks, and Babys Got Track finished sixth in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Babys Got Track’s best effort against Daz Lin Dawn was a second in the $50,000 Hong Kong Jockey Club going 1 1/16 miles.

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Hall likes the way both of his 3-year-old fillies are coming into Saturday’s race. Northern Storm was an easy front-running winner of a $40,000 optional/maiden-claiming race Sept. 10, and the 71 Beyer she received is easily the best last-race figure in the field.

Hall is currently in Lexington, Ky., where he and his fiancée Nancy Betts, Daz Lin Dawn’s trainer, are shopping for horses at Keeneland.

“I’m not going to choose between them,” Hall said. “They are both training well. I like it that one has speed and the other one comes from behind. It will certainly be nice for Babys Got Track to get away from Daz Lin Dawn.”

Betts said she purchased two yearlings and is looking for more.

“I was surprised at some of the prices,” she said. “They are very reasonable and there are a lot of good buying opportunities.”

KEY CONTENDERS

Babys Got Track, by Numaany
Last 3 Beyers: 57-62-64

◗ Both of her wins have come sprinting, so she won’t mind the cutback in distance from the Oaks.

DRF Formulator Fact: the past couple of years Hall has a 27 percent strike rate and $2.47 ROI with horses going from a route to sprint.

◗ She will break from the inside post with Enrique Gonzalez retaining the mount.

Northern Storm, by Rosberg
Last 3 Beyers: 71-71-55

◗ The second foal out of the multiple stakes winner Wind Storm, she has improved dramatically in her last two starts and she may not have reached her peak.

Indie Rock, by Second in Command
Beyers: 56-65

◗ Trained by John Snow, she edged Northern Storm by a neck when she debuted in a maiden special weight race July 23 and then just missed in her second start, in a $25,000 optional-claiming race Aug. 18.

◗ She is the second foal out of two-time sprint stakes winner Concert Music, and with just two starts behind her she could have plenty of upside potential.