Ispymytie returns to Assiniboia

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Ispymytie, winner of five of six starts here, is the 121-pound highweight in Monday's $27,500 Victoria Day Stakes.

The 5 1/2-furlong Victoria Day for fillies and mares, 3 and up, launches the 2001 stakes schedule at Assiniboia Downs.

Ispymytie, who has earned $79,070 of her $107,718 lifetime total here, failed to hit the board in two starts at Stampede Park this spring but will be the probable favorite in the Victoria Day. Alan Cuthbertson will ride.

The three-horse entry of Danceprincessdance, Shezafrequentflyer, and Cute Caboose, sent out by trainer Ardell Sayler, may have the best chance to upset Ispymytie.

After failing to hit the board in her first two starts, Danceprincessdance has rattled off five consecutive victories, including a win over males in a conditioned allowance May 13 in her only outing this year.

Shezafrequentflyer, last year's top local older filly or mare, won a three-horse photo in her only start of the year May 5. Jerry Pruitt gets the call, as Jacques DesAutels, Shezafrequentflyer's regular rider, has elected to ride Danceprincessdance.

Cute Caboose finished a fast-closing fourth behind Shezafrequentflyer in her only try this spring. She is the only horse in this race to have finished ahead of Ispymytie, as she ran second behind Ontario invader Queen's Park last August in the Jack Hardy.