Four undercard stakes draw tough shippers
The Triple Crown excitement with Barber Road behind him, trainer John Ortiz now can set to the task of winning for the first time at Canterbury Park. Kentucky-based Ortiz has started only one runner at Canterbury but has a live contender for the $100,000 Mystic Lake Mile in Mr Dumas.
Mr Dumas, 4-1 on the track’s morning line, turns in consistently competitive races at the high allowance and lower stakes level. He’s handled a variety of turf courses and has the right running style to get a good trip in the Mystic Lake Mile, which drew a dozen entrants but is expected to go without 3-1 morning-line favorite Two Emmys.
Based at Hawthorne with trainer Hugh Robertson, Two Emmys will stay home for a Hawthorne turf stakes Saturday, according to Robertson, who didn’t like shipping to run into a bulky field packed with entrants who, like Two Emmys, prefer racing on or near the lead.
Mr Dumas, the mount of Reylu Gutierrez, won’t be too far off the pace, but having someone else lead helps Mr Dumas show his best.
“A key for him is having someone speed in front of us so he can tuck in and sit behind,” Ortiz said. “He rides like a true turf horse. I know this course is extremely fast – hopefully he likes it.”
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Two days before Barber Road – who’s getting about 60 days’ farm rest following a dull run in the Belmont Stakes – finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby, Mr Dumas finished third in the Opening Verse Stakes at Churchill Downs. The two horses in front of him, winner Grays Fable and second-place Hidden Stash, didn’t show much in their subsequent starts, but Mr Dumas’s overall form picture paints him as a solid Canterbury contender.
Tuts Revenge, Drama Chorus, Dyn O Mite, and Agent Peter Graves – all drawn toward the outside – are the primary pace players. Dyn O Mite, Florent Geroux riding for Keith Desormeaux, has the most upside among that quartet.
Lady Canterbury
Canterbury essentially is the home track of prominent Minnesota owner Bob Lothenbach, and his homebred filly She Can’t Sing should have an excellent chance in the $100,000 Lady Canterbury.
Five-year-old She Can’t Sing only tried racing in turf routes three races ago, in her 27th career start, and appears belatedly to have found her niche. She won two $100,000 Fair Grounds turf-route stakes and comes into the one-mile Lady Canterbury following a creditable fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Modesty on May 6 at Churchill. She Can’t Sing raced closer to the lead than might be ideal last out in a race won by standout filly Bleecker Street, and She Can’t Sing found trouble off the far turn and into the stretch.
“With a better trip from the quarter pole home, she could have been third in there,” trainer Chris Block said. “I was happy with it. Since then, she’s been good, been herself. Her works have been solid.”
It would help She Can’t Sing, ridden by Jareth Loveberry, if the three potential front-runners show up and set at least an honest pace.
“She’s best when she can get into a rhythm and build into her run,” Block said.
Saranya nipped Amalfi Princess in the Curtis Sampson Oaks on this turf-stakes card last year, and both fillies are back for the Lady Canterbury.
Dark Star
Florent Geroux flies on a private plane from Louisville to ride the five turf stakes Wednesday at Canterbury – good news for a guy who had travel problems going from Kentucky to New Jersey this past weekend. Flight cancellations and a series of delays forced Geroux to give up his Monmouth mounts Saturday, among them the Brad Cox-trained Home Brew, who sharply won the Pegasus Stakes.
No matter – Geroux is on live Cox-trained runners at Canterbury, including Seven Scents in the $100,000 Dark Star Turf Sprint over five furlongs.
Geroux, 7-4-2-1 in Canterbury stakes races, rode Seven Scents to a good allowance win in April at Keeneland, where the 6-year-old gelding raced for the first time after being claimed for $80,000 by Cox and Living the Dream Stable. Seven Scents came back to finish third, beaten a nose for second, in the $100,000 Turf Sprint on the Preakness undercard May 21 at Pimlico, a race won on the front end by Carotari.
“I’ve ridden Carotari. He’s very tough when he has things his way. I don’t see any Carotaris in this race,” Geroux said.
There are some serious speed horses, however, and Geroux hopes to snug Seven Scents in just behind the pace, as he did in the winning Keeneland performance.
Chess Master has a series of excuses for recent failures, has three wins from five Canterbury turf starts, and could outrun his 6-1 morning-line odds.
◗ In the $100,000 Curtis Sampson Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies over one mile, Geroux rides Whenthedawnbreaks for Cox. Geroux never has worked the filly and only rode her in her most recent start, a Keeneland allowance where the filly closed mildly for fifth. “I had a bad post [10] and didn’t want to get as far back as I did,” Geroux said.
Whenthedawnbreaks drew post 1 and while she faces a dozen rivals, the horses she met at Keeneland were at least as good as these. Schlofmitz, Dreamworker, and Elle of the Ball are the other likely shorter prices.