Canterbury Park: Lady Canterbury featured race on Fillies Race for Hope Day

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Canterbury Park on Saturday will host the second annual Fillies Race for Hope, a day of horse racing and fundraising to benefit the Hope Chest for Breast Cancer Foundation and Pay It Forward Fund. There are three stakes on the day, including the $100,000 Lady Canterbury Stakes.

“The inaugural event was very successful,” Canterbury Park president Randy Sampson said of Fillies Race for Hope Day. “We expect that Saturday will be even bigger.”

The Lady Canterbury, for fillies and mares, will be contested at a mile over the turf course. The morning-line favorite is Hooh Why, a two-time graded stakes winner and millionaire.

Hooh Why was second at Woodbine in the Grade 3 Ontario Matron Stakes in her last start. She led until deep stretch before she was collared by Stars to Shine. On Saturday, she will be moving from Polytrack back to turf, where she is 4 for 9 lifetime. Bobby Walker Jr. gets the call for trainer Michael Revis.

Local speedster Rare Sunset will look to repeat her performance in the HBPA Mile where she went wire to wire for her second stakes win of 2012. She should be pushing Hooh Why on the front end. Giovanni Franco rides the Miguel Silva trainee.

Bryan’s Jewel, second by a head in a $50,000 optional claiming race at Delaware Park last time out, ships in for trainer Mac Robertson and will try to take advantage of a fast early pace. Derek Bell will be in the irons.

Michael Stidham, trainer of Mystic Lake Derby winner Hammers Terror, will be trying to complete a sweep of Canterbury’s two major stakes with Ruthville.

Also on the card are the Princess Elaine and the Hoist Her Flag Stakes, each worth $50,000.

The Princess Elaine Stakes is a 1 1/16-mile turf contest for statebred fillies and mares.

Tez Savitri comes into the race off two solid turf efforts to begin her 2012 campaign, including a win last out in a $20,000 optional claiming race. Her closing style may prove effective due to the presence of speedsters Terice, Bert’slittlesister, and Congrats and Roses.

The top two choices in the six-furlong Hoist Her Flag Stakes, Starlite Starbrite and Yournothebossofme, are also cross-entered in the West Virginia Secretary of State Stakes at Mountaineer Park on Saturday. Starlite Starbrite has shown early speed in her races – including the Prairie Rose where she finished second, 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Yournothebossofme, who typically comes off the pace. Yournothebossofme came back to finish more than 20 lengths ahead of Starlite Starbrite while winning the Saylorville Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

Should the top two falter or not start, Polar Plunge will be looking to win her second consecutive race after charging from the back of the field to take a $20,000 optional claiming race.

Post time for Fillies Race for Hope Day is 1:30 p.m. Central.