Eustacia will give routing a try in Freedom of the City

Eustacia will try to carry her considerable speed around three turns for the first time when she runs in the $50,000 Freedom of the City at Northlands Park on Friday night. The one-mile race for 2-year-old fillies headlines the final Friday evening card of the 2014 meet that ends Saturday. Post time for the first of 10 races is 6:30 p.m. Mountain.

Trained by Greg Tracy, Eustacia hasn’t finished worse than second in four starts. After winning a maiden special weight race going 3 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 20, she romped by seven lengths in the $49,700 Bird of Pay on Sept. 5. With Rico Walcott aboard, she broke on top in the 6 1/2-furlong race and was never really threatened.

Tracy is happy with the way she is coming into her first route attempt.

“I think she’ll be a better sprinter in the long run, but she’s ready to go long now,” said Tracy. “I would have preferred to have brought her back sooner, but there just weren’t any races for her.”

Eustacia is the third foal out of the stakes-winning mare Sparkling Pink, who was better sprinting but did win one of her four starts going a middle distance.

Walcott retains the mount.

KEY CONTENDERS

Eustacia (Last 3 Beyers: 53-71-54)

◗ Her Beyer Speed Figures stand out, and according to Tracy, she has been training extremely well leading up to her first start since she toyed with her rivals in the Bird of Pay on Sept. 5.

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Over the past five years, Tracy has a 33 percent strike rate with horses coming off a layoff of 31 to 60 days who were stretching out to a route for the first time.

Wild Deuces (Last 3 Beyers: 31-31-31)

◗ Trained by Robertino Diodoro, she is still a maiden, but she looked like she wanted more distance when she came from last to finish second in the $48,860 Sturgeon River in her last start.

◗ Being a half-sister to three route stakes winners, she figures to relish the extra ground in her first try going around three turns.

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Over the past five years, Diodoro has won with 19 percent of his starters going a route for the first time.

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Quality Lane (Last 3 Beyers: 37-42-52)

◗ She was no match for Eustacia in the Bird of Pay, but the Joan Petrowski trainee finished a clear second, and she should get plenty of stamina from her multiple Grade 1-winning sire, Quality Road, who earned most of his $2.2 million going long.