Han Sense back with statebreds in Iowa Breeders' Derby

Two tracks in North America lead the way with six-stakes cards on Saturday. One isn’t difficult to guess – Arlington Park, which runs the Grade 1 Arlington Million and Beverly D., among other prestigious races – but the other track is not so obvious. Prairie Meadows also counts six stakes among its nine races Saturday, admittedly on a much smaller scale than those at Arlington.

Prairie Meadows’s Saturday stakes are all for Iowa-bred horses, cover a variety of conditions, and range in purses from $75,000 to $103,500. The six stakes, like all races at Prairie Meadows, are on dirt.

The $75,000 Iowa Breeders’ Oaks at one mile and 70 yards for 3-year-old fillies kicks off the stakes action in the third race. There, Theperfectvow figures as a short-priced favorite after winning two straight allowances.

A daughter of Majesticperfection, she won the Iowa Sorority last year at Prairie Meadows and has since improved her record to 4 for 6 for owners River Ridge Ranch and trainer Robertino Diodoro. Ry Eikleberry is aboard.

The six-furlong, $93,500 Iowa Sorority for 2-year-old fillies follows as race 4, and despite drawing a field of only six, it seems competitive among the leading contenders. First-out maiden winners Jack’s Party Girl, Msbrooklynbrawler, and Clear Credence take on the more experienced One Last Empress, 3-1-1-0 and most recently second against males in the Iowa Stallion Futurity on July 14.

The $85,000 Dan Johnson Sprint will go as the fifth race, also at six furlongs. It drew a field of eight, with a pair of fast last-out allowance winners in Scrutinzer and Basic Chance expected to vie for favoritism. Between them, they are 9 for 20 at Prairie Meadows.

A maiden race interrupts the stakes action in race 6, followed by the $103,500 Iowa Breeders’ Derby at 1 1/16 miles. The well-traveled Han Sense is the expected favorite in that contest despite being soundly beaten when eighth in his most recent start, the Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby on July 15. He was outclassed in that race against Irap, Colonelsdarktemper, and others but is fittingly placed in the Iowa Breeders’ Derby at Prairie Meadows, where he won the Iowa Cradle for statebred horses in his debut last summer for trainer Mike Maker and owner Kendall Hansen.

The renewal of the race Han Sense won last year, the $93,500 Iowa Cradle, follows the Iowa Breeders’ Derby as the eighth race and will be contested at six furlongs.

Tin Badge, a first-out maiden winner who captured the Iowa Stallion Futurity in his next start, is the even-money favorite on the morning line and is likely to drop to a shorter price by post time. He started as the 2-5 choice in the Iowa Stallion Futurity, led at every call, and held off One Last Empress for a three-quarter-length victory.

Older route stakes horses then close out the card, with colts and geldings ages 3 and up going to post in the $100,000 Gov. Terry Branstad and older fillies and mares concluding the day’s racing in the $100,000 Donna Reed. The former race is at 1 1/16 miles, while the latter is a bit shorter at a mile and 70 yards.

No Holds Barred and Net Gain are rematched in the Gov. Terry Branstad after being separated by three-quarters of a length in their last matchup, an allowance prep going one mile and 70 yards July 13. Although No Holds Barred defeated Net Gain that day, the public likely will anticipate a different outcome Saturday over a longer distance and due to the presence of numerous speed horses who figure to set a fast pace for the late-charging Net Gain.

As for the Donna Reed, that race looks suited for Mywomanfromtokyo. A 5 1/2-length winner the last time she faced Iowa-bred stakes horses, she is dropped in class after running a close fourth in the Iowa Distaff against open company July 7.