Charles Town: Amherst Street looks to stay perfect in West Virginia Futurity

Amherst Street will try to remain undefeated when he faces five other 2-year-olds in the $50,000 West Virginia Futurity at Charles Town on Saturday evening.

Trained by Javier Contreras, Amherst Street is 4 for 4 and has yet to be headed at any call. All four of his wins have come locally.

In his most recent outing on Nov. 9, the gelding won the $118,000 Tri-State Futurity going the same seven-furlong distance as this race. He has beaten three of the five foes he faces Saturday multiple times, so if there will be a challenge from anywhere, it will likely come from the horse next to him in the starting gate, Captain Klink, who will be making his second start. Amherst Street will break from post 1.

Captain Klink won at first asking by 5 1/4 lengths locally Oct. 1, winning in front-running fashion at odds of 9-5. He had a best-of-27 workout Nov. 22, signaling his readiness for trainer James Casey. Both Amherst Street and Captain Klink were bred by Casey.

The others in the field are Saint On Wings, Modern Day Miracle, Comeonletsplay, and a maiden, Totethenote.

On the undercard, Awesome Mama heads a field of eight fillies and mares in the $35,000 Shenandoah Handicap.

Trained by Hugh McMahon, Awesome Mama has won twice this year, and her most recent victory came locally at this distance on July 28. The 3-year-old daughter of Awesome Again won in front-running style when facing older fillies and mares in that allowance race. She also won at Oaklawn Park in January. J.D. Acosta retains the mount for owner WinStar Farm.

Hymn Note, the morning-line favorite, is the 120-pound highweight, and spots her rivals one to five pounds. She comes into this race off a tough nose loss in the seven-furlong, $50,000 Municipalities Mayors Handicap on Oct. 18. Trained by Tim Kreiser, she is winless in three local attempts.