Demidanu brings sprint speed to two-turn Iowa Stallion Filly Stakes

Demidanu will attempt to take her rivals all the way on the lead Friday night, when she makes her two-turn debut in the $70,000 Iowa Stallion Filly Stakes at Prairie Meadows. The race will be run over one mile and 70 yards and is restricted to 3-year-old fillies eligible for the series.

Demidanu is the only stakes winner in the nine-horse field. Her rivals include Adria, Plenty of Vision, Ebony Pearl, and Majestic Ways, who all are proven at two turns. Demidanu will be stretching out from six furlongs when she starts from post 1, under jockey Kevin Roman.

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“That might be stretching her a little bit,” trainer Kelly Von Hemel said. “She’s been training good, working really good. We’ve been trying to put miles in her. She drew a perfect post – let her go to the lead and see how long she lasts.”

Demidanu’s sire, Formidable, and dam, Soaring Goddess, both did their best work at one turn, although her mother was stakes-placed at two turns.

Demidanu won last year’s Iowa Sorority during a campaign in which she won 3 of 4 starts to emerge as one of the top 2-year-olds at Prairie Meadows. Her other wins came in a maiden special weight by eight lengths and a first-level allowance by 11 lengths. Demidanu has run twice this year, finishing fourth in a pair of stakes at Prairie Meadows.

“She hasn’t had the best of racing luck so far this year,” Von Hemel said. “We’re hoping for a little racing luck.”

Demidanu is owned by Lynette Dreifurst, Dana Hellbusch, Warren Hellbusch, and Anthony Schieffer Jr.

Adria is moving back into a restricted stakes after running sixth in the Panthers on June 11 at Prairie. The winner of that race, Butterbean, returned in her next start to capture the Grade 3, $225,000 Iowa Oaks. As for Adria, she had won two straight races ahead of the Panthers, including a first-level allowance at Prairie with a strong Beyer Speed Figure of 70. Alex Canchari has the mount from post 2 for Poindexter Thoroughbreds and trainer Lynn Chleborad.

Plenty of Vision is a three-time winner over a route of ground. She won her maiden at a mile in November at Remington Park, then won back-to-back mile allowances this past spring at Will Rogers Downs. Plenty of Vision is moving back to dirt after a fifth-place finish in first-level allowance on grass at Canterbury that has produced three next-out winners, including Midnight Current who returned to take the Minnesota Turf Distaff with a Beyer of 84.

Ebony Pearl won a first-level allowance for Iowa-breds on June 27 in her most recent start.