Chatahoochie set for '09 debut

Chatahoochie, who is trained by Robert McKenzie, looks like the one to beat in the featured race at Northlands on Saturday. The 3 1/2-furlong allowance race for fillies and mares which have not won $20,000 since Jan. 1, 2008, drew six horses and goes as the seventh race.

There is a $40,000 claiming option on the race and Chatahoochie, who has won six races, is in for the price. Two of her six wins have been at 3 1/2 furlongs and she ran a big race coming off of the bench last year, winning a $32,000 optional race at Stampede Park. She went on to win a couple of stakes races at Lethbridge in September, and from the looks of her bullet three-furlong work on May 4, she appears to be ready for a big effort in her first start of 2009.

Leading jockey Rickey Walcott is slated to ride.

Excessive B and B is stepping up in class but she should have a fitness edge over the rest of the field, and she looks like the main threat off of her win in a $22,000 claiming race on May 1. Trained by Gordon Amthor, Excessive B and B was an easy two-length winner in her first start of the year and she is certainly eligible to move forward here.

Hello Haley broke on top and never looked back in an entry-level allowance race at Stampede Park in her initial start of 2008. Trained by Floyd Arthur, Hello Haley has been well prepped for her first start since finishing fifth in a second-level allowance race last October.