Broberg takes two shots at Hawkeyes Handicap

Trainer Karl Broberg has made hay in the Iowa-bred female sprint division at this Prairie Meadows meet with It’s the Swede, a two-time stakes winner, and he has two chances Friday night to win a race in the Iowa-bred female route division in the $65,000 Hawkeyes Handicap.

The 11-horse Hawkeyes field includes the Broberg-trained M B Prize as well as her stablemate Native Princess. Both stretch out from sprints but are in good-enough form to win this one-mile-and-70-yard race if their form holds up around two turns.

M B Prize already has crossed the finish line first twice at this meet, but she was disqualified from an Iowa-bred allowance win June 5 after capturing an open, first-level allowance in late April. She has speed, the rail, and stamina in her pedigree and might be better suited to two-turn racing than her lone previous route try suggests.

Native Princess never has tried a two-turn race, but she has consistently run on well in the homestretch of her sprints and was a closing second to It’s the Swede in the Bob Bryant Stakes last out.

But the pick to win the Hawkeyes is Mywomanfromtokyo. Trained by Kelly Von Hemel, she could only finish a one-paced fourth while wide in the Bob Bryant, but her recent races suggest a horse who has been sprinting and could improve in a route. She tried two turns once last year in an open turf allowance at Churchill and finished a creditable third. If even a decent portion of the pace entered in the Hawkeyes actually shows up, Mywomanfromtokyo will get a favorable setup, and she would be an appealing play at something close to her 8-1 morning-line odds.