Honor the Hero Stakes tries again with smaller field

Five days late and four horses short, the $50,000 Honor the Hero Stakes headlines the Saturday card at Canterbury Park.

Canterbury had to cut short its Memorial Day racing program because of persistent lightning. Among the canceled races was the Honor the Hero, a five-furlong turf dash. There were 11 entrants in the original version, but only seven were entered when the race was re-assembled Wednesday.

That number could drop again if the local forecast, which calls for a 70 percent chance of thunderstorms Saturday, proves accurate and the Honor the Hero is rained from turf to dirt. The Saturday feature is carded as race eight of 10, scheduled post time is 4:15 Central.
Dry dirt, wet dirt, or turf, Wings Locked Up looks likely to play the hero in the Honor the Hero.

The 6-year-old gelding hasn’t shown much in two synthetic-surface starts, but he’s an eight-time winner on fast tracks, has a record of 4-2-1 from eight wet dirt-track starts, and is 3-2-0 from nine tries on turf. Grass might be his least preferred of the three options, but Wings Locked Up doesn’t need to hit peak form to win this race. He’s well drawn in post 6 to use his early speed and was flattered when Apprehender, the only horse to beat him May 4 in a Prairie Meadows allowance race, returned to win the $65,000 Ed Skinner Memorial last weekend at Prairie Meadows.

Jack Snipe’s holds some appeal at a better price than Wings Locked Up. Jack Snipe’s has made only two turf-sprint starts, both over the winter at Fair Grounds, and ran well enough in the first to contend Saturday. Bushrod was just claimed for $18,000, but isn’t obviously overmatched here, while Consumer Confidence shouldn’t mind cutting back from two turns to one. Majestic Pride has won half his eight starts over the local turf – which is being kept very long at the moment – but will struggle to get up at a distance this short.