You might have thought a nice little $100,000 3-year-old dirt-sprint overnight handicap on a Monday in Virginia would come up with a modest field. In fact, the connections of some of the horses entered in the Housebuster Handicap probably thought the same thing. Nope – Colonial Downs’s Monday feature drew a strong field of 10 entrants headed by 5-2 morning-line favorite Conagher. Conagher cuts back to seven furlongs after contesting a fast pace and finishing second July 9 in the $300,000 Iowa Derby. The 96 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in defeat still tops this field, and that figure followed a 104 that Conagher got going seven furlongs in a second-level Churchill Downs allowance win and a 97 from his prior start. And yet Conagher is far from a cinch. He’s back on about three weeks’ rest following a tough race and is a speed type drawn in post 2, just outside major pace player Scaramouche and inside several other horses quick out of the gate. That bunch includes another accomplished sprinter, Old Homestead, winner of the Lafayette in April at Keeneland and the Concern on July 2 at Laurel Park, both at this seven-furlong trip. Conagher is the 123-pound highweight, while Old Homestead was assigned 121. Scaramouche, third behind Old Homestead in the Concern, carries 120, with the rest of the entrants weighted between 114 and 118. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. The Housebuster is carded as race 7, post time 4:33 p.m. Eastern, on a program that could turn wet, with showers possible throughout the day. The race will go with no more than nine runners because Argentine import Editorial Comment will be scratched, trainer Kenny McPeek said. Conagher’s connections are eyeing the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens on Aug. 27 at Saratoga, and trainer Mike Tomlinson said he preferred “to go ahead and run here rather than working a couple extra times.” “He’s done absolutely great since his last race. He’s bright and sharp and came out of it in really good shape,” Tomlinson said. Conagher chased a pace rival who laid down taxing splits in the Iowa Derby and had no response when Ain’t Life Grand came to him at the furlong grounds. Monday, he’ll have to overcome a difficult inside draw under Joe Rocco Jr. “You’d prefer to be a little further out, but he’s a smart enough colt Joe can kind of ease him back if someone wants to set a suicidal pace,” Tomlinson said. Old Homestead began his career in five-furlong sprints at Delta Downs but showed his quality jumping way up in class in the Lafayette. Old Homestead acted dull before the race and ran flat in his lone defeat, the Chick Lang at Pimlico, but bounced back to form last out at Laurel and has trained well since, trainer Brett Brinkman said. Old Homestead has plenty of speed, too, but he’s drawn outside, and Brinkman said he had “no qualms about that horse relaxing off another horse.” Zatip, a maiden winner last fall at Keeneland, battled foot issues over the winter, trainer Graham Motion said, finally making his 3-year-old debut July 1 at Laurel, where he beat older first-level allowance foes. Motion said he’ll decide over the weekend whether to run at Colonial or in a Tuesday allowance at Parx Racing. “I like him, but it’s a brutally tough race at Colonial,” Motion said. And he’s right.