Ghost Locket strong contender in Jack Bishop
Ghost Locket was entered in the Prairie Rose Stakes over six furlongs on Thursday night at Prairie Meadows. If she is scratched, she has a good chance to win the $45,000 Jack Bishop Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Friday night at the same venue.
Friday night’s two-turn race drew six other entrants, with Ghost Locket the likely favorite in the eighth of nine races.
Versatile in terms of distance, Ghost Locket won the six-furlong, $100,000 Saylorville over the Prairie Meadows surface last summer, but she also won a two-turn allowance race and in minor route stakes finished second to the graded-stakes-class Diva’s Diamond. At 1 1/16 miles, Ghost Locket, trained by Don Von Hemel, has won only once in seven tries, but she’s finished worse than third only once as well.
Beyond Ghost Locket, Sweet Opportunity, who hasn’t started this year, and Ribbon of Darkness, last seen racing in February, look like the major players.
Sweet Opportunity, trained by Von Hemel’s son Donnie, finished second in the Panthers and a close fourth in the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks last summer at Prairie Meadows, but she might need a race for fitness and has shown a preference for a distance slightly shorter than Friday’s. Ribbon of Darkness, who tried higher-level stakes foes a couple times during the Oaklawn meet, might also prefer a mile, but she can stay a half-furlong farther than that against this group – especially if Ghost Locket already has started the evening before.
Post time for the feature is 8:42 p.m. Central.