Blue Dancer, Killin Me Smalls meet again in Westerner Handicap

The biggest day of the year for Alberta horse racing happens at Northlands Park on Saturday, when the Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Derby headlines an 11-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.

The Derby is a wide-open event, but the three supporting stakes shape up completely different, with obvious favorites and at most one serious challenger.

The best of the three is the $50,000 Westerner Handicap, in which Blue Dancer and Killin Me Smalls stand out in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up that drew nine horses. Blue Dancer, trained by Greg Tracy, hasn’t lost in three starts as a 4-year-old. The only horse to warm him up this year is Killin Me Smalls, who came within a half-length of him in the Spangled Jimmy on June 18.

With Keishan Balgobin subbing for regular rider Quincy Welch, Blue Dancer easily handled Killin Me Smalls going 1 1/16 miles in the $50,000 Fred Jones on July 16, though.

Welch rides Blue Dancer on Saturday.

Blue Dancer will carry the high weight of 125 pounds, four more than Killin Me Smalls.

Trained by Ernie Keller, Killin Me Smalls was an impressive winner going 6 1/2 furlongs in the Sun Sprint Championship Handicap on Aug. 1. He could be coming back to the form that saw him win the $82,000 Speed to Spare at Northlands and the Grade 3, $100,000 Premier’s at Hastings last year.

Balgobin, who rode him for the first time in the Sun, retains the mount.

The first of the three stakes is the $50,000 Sonoma Handicap, where Onestaratatime will be a short price to win the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies.

Trained by Tracy, Onestaratatime won the last two stakes for sophomore fillies at Northlands by a combined 16 3/4 lengths. In both the $59,000 Red K. Smith on June 18 and the $64,000 Northlands Oaks on July 16, she dominated her overmatched opposition right from the start. Because of her strong performances, she has been assigned the high weight of 125 pounds and will concede seven to 10 pounds to the field.

Tracy loves the way she is coming into the race.

“She is doing so well, we considered running her in the Derby,” he said. “I’m just not sure she wants to go a mile and three-eighths.”

Onestaratatime drew post 3, with Rico Walcott retaining the mount.

Audacious Angel will be trying three turns for the first time for trainer Monica Russell. Trained by Eddie Truman in Southern California, she won a $75,000 maiden special weight race June 19 and then rallied to finish fourth going one mile in an optional $40,000 claiming race at Del Mar on July 30.

It looks like either Majestic Presence or Hero’s Amor in the $75,000 Edmonton Distaff Handicap for fillies and mare going 1 1/16 miles.

Majestic Presence, trained by Troy Taylor, just missed to multiple Grade 3 winner Touching Promise in the $75,000 Pacific Customs Brokers Distaff at Hastings on Aug. 1.

The daughter of Majestic Warrior will need to be on her toes to catch Hero’s Amor.

Similar to last year, trainer Tim Rycroft has Hero’s Amor peaking at the right time. Following her win in the Sonoma in 2015, she went to Hastings to win the $100,000 B.C. Oaks.

In her latest race at Northlands, she ran her opponents off their feet with a nine-length romp in the $51,000 Madamoiselle on July 16.