Gio Nasty One can pull minor upset in Gray's Lake Stakes

Trainer Doug Anderson and jockey Alex Birzer had a beaten stakes-favorite Monday at Prairie Meadows when Remembering Rita finished second at odds-on in the Ed Skinner Stakes. Anderson and Birzer team up on a better-priced entrant Saturday in the $62,500 Gray’s Lake for Iowa-bred 3-year-olds.

Gio Nasty One is listed as the 3-1 second choice on the line for the six-furlong Gray’s Lake, a race he can win based on a series of open races at Tampa Bay Downs and his most recent start, his first against fellow Iowa-breds. There, in a five-furlong maiden sprint, Gio Nasty On swooped down on a lead group of four in the homestretch after stalking mid-pack around the turn, and he cruised past to win by five lengths. The extra furlong he gets Saturday should only help, and Birzer knows well his main rival, morning-line favorite Kauai.

Birzer was aboard on May 10 when Kauai, racing for the first time since August, won a first-level Iowa-bred sprint allowance by 1 ¼ lengths. Kauai did get a perfect trip that night but made the most of it while beating better horses than Gio Nasty One defeated in his win.

Anderson and Kelly Von Hemel, Kauai’s trainer, have second entrants in the Gray’s Lake, and both those horses – Uncle Chad for Anderson and Knight Commander for Von Hemel – figure to show early speed, leaving their stablemates to settle things in the final furlong.