Horsemen's Park: Nayborhood Affair out for repeat

OMAHA, Neb. – Nayborhood Affair seeks her third stakes win of the year when she heads a field of seven older Nebraska-bred fillies and mares in the $27,500 Falls Amiss Handicap on day two of the Horsemen’s Park festival of racing Friday evening.

The Falls Amiss, at one mile, goes as the third on a five-race card, and Nayborhood Affair should rule a solid favorite as she attempts to defend her title in this race. Trained by Steve Hall, Nayborhood Affair is coming off a solid fourth after a wide trip against open allowance company at Lincoln Race Course on July 9. Before that she had won both the Bluegrass Stakes and the Matchmaker at Lincoln, moving her career mark to 8-2-1 from 19 starts.

Plaer’s Trump, the winner of this race in 2008, is still searching for her first win of the year but has slowly rounded into form and could be sitting on an upset effort in this spot for trainer Ron Westermann. She was a solid fourth in the Bluegrass Stakes and most recently was fifth in the same allowance race as Nayborhood Affair. Armando Martinez will be aboard from post 7.

Terrell Hemmer sends out Blarney Babe, who should be a part of the pace in this race. She has been just off the leaders while going six furlongs in her most recent allowance tries and will face older company in stakes competition for the first time. Blarney Babe has been a model of consistency this year, posting a 2-5-1 mark from 9 starts and appears ready to handle the stretch out in distance. Jake Olesiak has the ride.