Bourbon County tries to win 10,000 Lakes for third time

It’s become a spring tradition at Canterbury Park, Bourbon County running in the 10,000 Lakes Stakes. In 2014, Bourbon County missed winning the race by a nose, but he comes into Saturday’s edition of the $50,000, six-furlong dirt sprint for Minnesota-breds seeking a three-peat.

Bourbon County won the 10,000 Lakes two years ago by almost eight lengths and won it last year by nearly two, but on Saturday, he makes his first start since being moved from trainer Bernell Rhone to Mac Robertson.

And Robertson, the runaway leading trainer in 2016 at Canterbury, could be set for a big day. He has another horse, A P Is Loose, for the 10,000 Lakes and three fillies – Sioux Appeal, Honey’s Sox Appeal, and Thunder and Honey – for the $50,000 Lady Slipper, the sister race to the 10,000 Lakes.

Bourbon County makes his first start since August. He won the 10,000 Lakes last year while racing for the first time after a winter break and has a published work pattern dating to March 12 at Fair Grounds, where Robertson’s father, Hugh, got the gelding going this year.

Still, for all the good he has done at Canterbury, Robertson, according to DRF Formulator, shows weakness under circumstances like this. Over the last five years at Canterbury, his starters coming back from layoffs of half a year or more in Minnesota-bred dirt-sprint stakes have gone just 13-1-2-2 with an 18-cent $2 win return on investment.

Bourbon County clearly has a better chance than Robertson’s second runner, A P Is Loose, a route horse prepping here for a longer race, but trainer Francisco Bravo’s two starters, Smooth Chiraz and Hold for More, both have to be considered. Hold for More was second in this race last year, though it is Smooth Chiraz who seems better positioned to win Saturday.

Smooth Chiraz, unlike his main competition, will not be rusty, having already started three times this year. The most recent of his races, a Minnesota-bred sprint allowance on May 6, produced a seven-length win, and Smooth Chiraz would offer value at his 7-2 morning-line odds.

The 10,000 Lakes goes as race 3, with the Lady Slipper immediately following it. Honey’s Sox Appeal looks best of the Robertson trio, and she showed steady improvement through her 3-year-old campaign in 2016. But she is racing for the first time in more than eight months, and she cedes recency to her main rival, Rockin the Bleu’s.

Rockin the Bleu’s was second by three-quarters of a length in the 2016 Lady Slipper, but that race was her first start following a winter break, and this year, she got in a good run April 3 at Will Rogers, winning an open sprint stakes.