Hastings: Evelyn's Dancer the class of Hong Kong Jockey Club field

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Evelyn’s Dancer figures to be a short price despite being asked to pack high weight of 125 pounds in the $50,000 Hong Kong Jockey Club for 3-year-old fillies at Hastings Friday. The 1 1/16-mile feature drew six horses and goes as the sixth race.

Also on the eight-race card, which begins at 7:15 p.m. Pacific, is the $50,000 Richmond Derby Trial for 3-year-olds, which drew seven horses. The 1 1/16-mile Derby Trial goes as the third race and appears to be a wide-open event.

Evelyn’s Dancer, trained by Troy Taylor, looked like she wanted more distance when she rallied to finish second in her first start at Hastings, which came going 6 1/2 furlongs in the $50,000 Ross McLeod on May 12. Looks can sometimes be deceiving, but not in this case.

Trying three turns for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Emerald Downs here, Evelyn’s Dancer stalked a fast pace before drawing off to win by an easy 3 1/2 lengths over Madeira Park. She proved her strong performance was no fluke when she came back to score a front-running win in the $50,000 Supernaturel on July 7.

Evelyn’s Dancer has been off for six weeks and Taylor was looking at using either the Aug. 3 Northlands Oaks or the last Saturday’s Washington Oaks at Emerald Downs as a prep for the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks on Sept. 9.

“She is doing so well here we decided to just keep her at home and use this race as her final prep,” said Taylor. “The timing is perfect, too.”

Evelyn’s Dancer signaled her readiness with a bullet five-furlong move in 59.40 seconds Aug. 7 and also appeared to be on her toes when she worked an easy six furlongs in 1:14.20 last Sunday.

Fernando Perez retains the mount.

Gosailgo was 26-1 when she set a moderate pace to steal the $50,000 B.C. Cup Dogwood Aug. 6, but her trainer Robert Anderson isn’t expecting the same kind of trip here. Jockey Frank Fuentes deserves a lot of credit for the thievery.

“Hopefully Frank can get her to relax, but I don’t think we are going to be left alone this time,” said Anderson.

An honest pace will benefit Racing for Gold, who rallied to finish second in the Dogwood. Trained by Phil Hall, Racing for Gold was stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time and should improve in her second route attempt.