Escape Clause to get a second chance at a Grade 1

The 5-year-old mare Escape Clause made her Grade 1 debut April 14 in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park, where she ran a gallant race, nipped on the wire by Midnight Bisou. Trainer and part-owner Don Schnell said Wednesday he plans to give Escape Clause a second chance to win a Grade 1 in the Ogden Phipps Stakes on June 8 at Belmont Park.

“I think Midnight Bisou is coming, so it’s a matchup again with her. It’s pretty ambitious. I think she’ll like the one sweeping turn,” Schnell said.

The Phipps is a one-turn, 1 1/16-mile dirt race.

Schnell’s string, Escape Clause included, is based at Canterbury Park, where Escape Clause blazed five furlongs in 58 seconds on the morning of May 12, her first work since the Apple Blossom. Schnell said he worked Escape Clause in company and that a rider not entirely familiar with the mare made a mistake midway on the far turn.

“He chirped to her and just like that she opened up 10 lengths. I said I wanted to go in about a minute. She did it easily, and it’s not a big deal, but she didn’t need to go that fast,” Schnell said.

Escape Clause was bred in Manitoba, Canada, and is by the obscure sire Going Commando. She was a regionally successful racehorse until Schnell took her to California last fall and got three good grass-stakes performances out of Escape Clause. Switched to dirt, Escape Clause won the Grade 3 La Canada on Jan. 12 at Santa Anita, and her form has since risen even higher. Escape Clause set a Sunland Park track record winning the $100,000 Harry Henson by more than seven lengths in late March before she showed she can run with the best dirt females in the country at Oaklawn, finishing nearly three lengths in front of Grade 1 winner Elate.

Escape Clause used to dislike shipping in a horse trailer, but Schnell has gotten her comfortable by hauling Escape Clause himself and tending to her whims. He said he plans to drive his mare over the course of two days from Canterbury to Belmont and intends to ship a week to 10 days before the Phipps. The way Escape Clause has been racing this spring, she’s not to be taken lightly.

Prairie Meadows

The eight 3-year-old male sprinters entered in the $50,000 Golden Circle Stakes on Friday night at Prairie Meadows look evenly matched, but that might not be the case with their eight trainers.

Steve Asmussen has shipped Bano Solo in for the six-furlong Golden Circle, and when Asmussen sends a horse to a Prairie Meadows stakes, it’s very much worth paying attention. Under such conditions the last two years, Asmussen-trained starters have compiled a record of 20-9-3-4 with a boxcar return on investment, and Bano Solo can further enhance those gaudy stats.

Bano Solo had one win from two starts last year and is 1 for 3 this season, his victory in a first-level Oaklawn allowance race, his second start of the year. Bano Solo’s most recent start came in the $150,000 Bachelor on April 27, a race Asmussen won with the talented colt Nitrous, and while Bano Solo was no match for horses of that caliber, he should fit snugly in the Golden Circle.

Bano Solo likes to race forwardly, and there’s other pace in the race. If the early speed becomes too intense, rail-drawn All Around has some appeal at a price. All Around was claimed by trainer Steve Manley for $40,000 in February at Oaklawn, turned in a good closing sprint run there April 27, and subsequently posted a half-mile workout in 47.60 seconds, an eye-catching time for the surface at Fairmount Park, where Manley keeps a string.

Arlington

Arlington’s featured fourth race Friday is a high-level allowance with a $50,000 claiming option carded for one mile on turf. The key word here, unfortunately, is “carded.” Arlington’s meet began May 3, and the suburban Chicago track has yet to run a race on its world-class grass course. Snow, rain, and unseasonably cold temperatures that have inhibited drying have combined to render the course unsuitable for use, and with a chance of rain again late this week, there’s no guarantee Friday’s races stay on, either.

“Looking at the forecast, I just don’t know,” said trainer Michele Boyce, who entered the capable Illinois-bred Blue Sky Kowboy in the Friday feature.

Blue Sky Kowboy won only once from seven 2018 starts, a somewhat disappointing campaign from a horse who’d ended his 3-year-old season with a near-miss in the $100,000 Hawthorne Derby. Blue Sky Kowboy’s main problem is tactical.

“The worst thing with him is he comes from so far out of it. A lot of things have to go right when you’re a deep closer like he is,” Boyce said.

The pick for Polytrack is Reride, who makes his third start for trainer Ignacio Correas and should suit the one-turn main-track mile in the event of a surface switch.