Gem Alta still has proving to do in Don Getty

Gem Alta will try to prove his win in the $50,000 Fred Jones Handicap at more than 25-1 was no fluke when he runs in the $50,000 Don Getty Handicap on Sunday at Century Mile.

The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up shares top billing with the R.K. Red Smith Handicap for fillies and mares. Raider and Blues Roar appear to be the main protagonists in that 1 1/16-mile race.

Trained by Tim Rycroft, Gem Alta came from well back to win the Fred Jones. Considering how wide he went and how well he was running in the latter stages of the 1 1/16-mile race, he should relish the added yardage Sunday.

It didn’t hurt that the leaders dueled through quick early fractions, and he may have taken a shine to a track rated good that a lot of horses appeared to struggle over.

Rycroft wasn’t surprised by Gem Alta’s strong performance.

“Despite having a couple of issues to deal with, he was on the [Canadian] Derby trail last year,” he said. “I liked him going into the race and I like him moving forward.”

The Kentucky-bred son of Gemologist will break from post 3 in the nine-horse field.

Rycroft is expecting Trooper John to rebound from his fifth-place finish as the 9-5 favorite in the Fred Jones.

“When the track is wet here he seems to have a hard time getting hold of it,” he said Thursday, adding that it was raining there. “Hopefully, it will dry out by Sunday.”

Rycroft also entered Stone Carver who held the lead at the six-furlong mark in the Fred Jones, but tired late to finish a distant third.

Gem Alta, Trooper John, and Stone Carver, all owned by Riversedge Racing Stables, will race uncoupled.

Sir Bronx, runner-up in the Fred Jones, figures to move forward in his second-straight route and just third start this year. Trained by Rick Hedge, the 6-year-old son of Bellamy Road pushed Stone Carver early and held the lead to midstretch before giving way late to finish 2 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

Sir Bronx won four races in 2018, including the $50,000 Westerner Handicap at Northlands Park.

Raider favored in Red Smith

The Greg Tracy-trained Raider will likely be favored in the Red Smith. Not only does she have a very good 2-1-0 record from 3 starts at the distance, she is being reunited with Rico Walcott, who rode her to four-straight victories – including three stakes – at Northlands Park last year.

Walcott, the dominant rider in Alberta the past nine years, is riding as well as ever following surgery to remove a brain tumor on April 5. Going into the weekend, he had won with four of his eight mounts.

A British Columbia-bred daughter of Stephanotis, Raider is coming off a third-place finish in the $75,000 Shirley Vargo, won by Good Luck to You who shipped in from Hastings. The one-mile race was held the race prior to the Fred Jones, and similar to Trooper John, Raider appeared to struggle over the surface. In her previous start, Raider won the $50,000 RedTail Landing on June 9.

Blues Roar, trained by Rycroft, is looking for her first stakes win after finishing second in the Shirley Vargo.

Daz Lin Dawn won seven stakes races, including the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks, as a 3-year-old for trainer Nancy Betts at Hastings in 2017. She hasn’t won since her victory in the Oaks, but showed signs of coming around with a third-place finish in the RedTail Landing.