Jack Diamond Futurity an open affair

The $100,000 Jack Diamond Futurity and $100,000 Sadie Diamond, which are part of the B.C. Derby card at Hastings on Saturday, shape up completely different.

The Jack Diamond is a wide-open race. Morning-line favorite Call It a Wrap is a deep closer and will need to work his way through the field of 11 2-year-olds. He is beatable.

On the other hand, it is hard to go past Dancin Shoes in the Sadie Diamond, which drew eight 2-year-old fillies. After all, she was an impressive four-length winner when she debuted in the $50,000 B.C. Debutante, and her final time of 1:17.89 for 6 1/2 furlongs was a second faster than it took Ring of Kerry to win the boys’ version of the Debutante, the B.C. Cup Nursery, a couple of races later.

Both races Saturday will be contested over 6 1/2 furlongs and are restricted to horses bred or sired in British Columbia.

The Jack Diamond goes as race 9 and is part of the late pick four, which has a guaranteed minimum pool of $25,000. The Sadie Diamond, race 3, is part of the pick five that begins in the second race. There is a $90,631 carryover in the pick five pool.

Call It a Wrap, trained by Craig MacPherson, is going for the hat trick. In winning a maiden special weight race and the $50,000 CTHS Sales Stakes, he came from well back.

“I don’t think he needs to be that far behind, especially if the pace is moderate,” said MacPherson.

Richard Hamel was aboard for his maiden victory, and Aaron Gryder rode him in the Sales Stakes. Hamel will be aboard Saturday when he breaks from post 8.

Gryder moves to Arranger, who appears primed for an upset. A son of Stephanotis, he is out of one of the best fillies or mares to run at Hastings, Monashee, who once reeled off 11 straight stakes wins.

Trained by Mark Cloutier, Arranger comes into the Futurity off just one race going 3 1/2 furlongs and should improve with the added distance.

“He’s pretty classy,” said Cloutier. “We knew three and one-half was too short for him, but we just wanted to give him some experience. He’s had two good five-furlong works, and I think he’s ready to run a big race. He has some tactical speed and hopefully Aaron can get him into a good spot early.”

There is not a lot of pure speed in the field, and Arranger could be dangerous from post 3.

Aleutian Harbour, Bugsy, and Lord of the North have reasonable chances of pulling off an upset in the Futurity.

Trainer Barbara Heads was expecting a good race from Dancin Shoes in her first start, but had no idea she was going to blow away her opponents the way she did. With Antonio Reyes aboard in the B.C. Debutante, she broke sharply, sat just off a fast and contested pace, and then quickly opened up a clear lead on the stretch turn.

“We thought she was really nice but didn’t expect her to be that electric first time out,” said Heads. “She has a ton of attitude and is pretty fearless, so I think she’ll come back with another strong race. She has certainly trained well and nothing much has changed.”

Dancin Shoes will break from post 7 with Reyes riding.