'Cool Cat' seeks third win of year

PORTLAND, Ore. - That Cool Cat will shoot for his third victory of 2005 in Sunday's eight-horse feature at Portland Meadows, a six-furlong race for older $5,000 claimers.

That Cool Cat, a 7-year-old son of Raji trained by Jonathan Nance, started the new year off with a victory in an $8,000 race at six-furlongs on Jan. 2. Coming back under the same conditions on Jan. 29, That Cool Cat finished fourth, but he notched his second victory of the young year when dropped to the $5,000 level on Feb. 7. In that six-furlong race, That Cool Cat came from far back under regular rider Tim Neal to score by almost two lengths in 1:13.20.

Aint No Connection and Keep on Turkin, who finished second and third to That Cool Cat in his last score, will be back to challenge the likely favorite again.

Aint No Connection, a 7-year-old trained by Henry Miller Jr., showed the way before yielding late to That Cool Cat. Aint No Connection will be making his third start at the meeting after campaigning last year at Hastings Park, where he won for $8,000 and $18,000 claiming prices.

Keep on Turkin broke slowly and raced wide before closing for third in the Feb. 7 matchup and could improve on that effort Sunday. In his best effort at the meeting, Keep on Turkin won an invitational handicap at five furlongs in November.