Gelner seeking stakes double with Taylor's Spirit, Yes Gorgeous

Trainer Scott Gelner will attack the first two stakes races of the Delta Downs meet on Friday night with a pair of leading contenders in Taylor’s Spirit and Yes Gorgeous.

Taylor’s Spirit, a multiple stakes winner, could go favored in the $50,000 My Trusty Cat for 2-year-old fillies. The seven-furlong race will be run around two turns. Others set to start in the seven-horse field include the stakes-placed runners Cover Charge, Navy Regatta, and Flatoutandfoxy.

Yes Gorgeous will be looking to win her third straight race when she meets older rivals in the $100,000 Magnolia. The one-mile race for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares figures to produce starters for the Louisiana Champions Day program at Fair Grounds. The field of 10 includes fellow stakes winners Special Blessing, Pacific Pink, Remember Daisy, Hyper Piper, and P Boo.

Gelner is in the midst of a strong year, with 68 wins through Tuesday. He’s picked up four stakes victories, two courtesy of Taylor’s Spirit. She won the $65,000 Prairie Gold Lassie on July 20 at Prairie Meadows and the $60,000 Happy Ticket in her two-turn debut Sept. 2 at Louisiana Downs.

The wins sent Taylor’s Spirit to the Grade 2 Pocahontas with a 3-for-3 record, but her streak ended in the Sept. 15 race at Churchill Downs. Taylor’s Spirit was prominent for a good part of the stakes before finishing eighth. She’s now back home at Delta and worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds over the local oval last Saturday.

Tommy Pompell has the mount on Taylor’s Spirit, who is a candidate to wire the field for Mark Norman and Norman Stables.

Flatoutandfoxy and Navy Regatta finished second and third to Taylor’s Spirit in the Happy Ticket, run at a mile on turf. Cover Charge earned her stakes placing when third in the $75,000 La Senorita, an off-the-turf race at a mile Sept. 4 at Retama.

Yes Gorgeous began her streak in August when she defeated older rivals in a six-furlong conditioned allowance at Evangeline Downs. She then defeated stakes rivals in the $60,000 Elge Rasberry on Sept. 2 at Louisiana Downs. Yes Gorgeous tracked the pace for a two-length win in the one-mile turf race for Louisiana-breds. Diego Saenz was aboard for both races and has the mount Friday from post 7.

Pacific Pink is back in the Louisiana-bred ranks after running in a pair of Grade 3 stakes in Kentucky, finishing fourth in the Groupie Doll at Ellis Park and sixth in the Locust Grove at Churchill. P Boo also last raced at Churchill, finishing third in the $100,000 Open Mind.