Canterbury: Katy Smiles heads Hoist Her Flag

A competitive field of nine fillies and mares were entered in the $40,000 Hoist Her Flag Stakes at Canterbury Park.

Katy Smiles is the probable favorite in the Hoist Her Flag. Trained by David Van Winkle, Katy Smiles has won 4 of 6 starts at Canterbury Park, with her last victory there coming in the Dean Kutz Stakes last August. Now 4, Katy Smiles came here from Turf Paradise, where she won an optional claiming event and just missed in her most recent start, the Cactus Flower Handicap, losing a neck decision to the formidable Muir Beach. Her three works since that April race suggest Katy Smiles has lost none of her sharpness for this-six furlong contest.

Ells Editor provided the Cinderella story of the 2005 Canterbury meeting when she prevailed in the Claiming Crown Glass Slipper at 12-1. Claimed for $10,000 in 2004 by trainer Percy Scherbenske, Ells Editor finished second in the Dean Kutz behind Katy Smiles. Given a winter break, Ells Editor closed well in an allowance contest at Arlington to finish second by a length.

Silver Fortune, trained by Ray Tracy, has the credentials to be a factor after finishing a fast-closing second in the Prairie Rose Stakes at Prairie Meadows in her last start.

Galactic Cat finished third in the Cactus Flower Handicap in her last start and has been transferred to the Mike Stidham barn by owner Robert Bone. A stakes-placed daughter of Forest Wildcat, she should not go overlooked in the Hoist Her Flag.