Late Night Pow Wow on target for Barbara Fritchie Stakes
Late Night Pow Wow came out of her emphatic victory in last Saturday’s What a Summer Stakes at Laurel Park in good shape, according to trainer Javier Contreras, and is on target to start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Barbara Fritchie on Feb. 16.
Contreras said he also planned to nominate Devine Mischief to the Fritchie following her second-place finish in the What a Summer. Devine Mischief was making her first start for Contreras after being transferred to him by Mike Hall and Sam Ross, who race as Breeze Easy LLC and own Late Night Pow Wow.
“I’m going to nominate them both and talk to the owners,” Contreras said. “If they want to run both, we will. I’ll let them decide.”
Late Night Pow Wow won the What a Summer by 6 1/4 lengths under regular rider Fredy Peltrouche. The 4-year-old West Virginia-bred is now 10 for 11 and has won eight straight races since June, including the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks. She has earnings of $469,000.
In her five starts prior to the What a Summer, Late Night Pow Wow had settled off the pace and then run the leaders down. Last Saturday, she went up to contest the pace before easily pulling away.
“She has that kind of speed,” Contreras said. “When we were running her 4 1/2 furlongs she would go 21 and 45 and just keep going.
“When we got her up to seven-eighths, she still wanted to just go, go, go, so we tried to get her to settle, and she did.”
While Contreras said he was comfortable with the way Late Night Pow Wow ran from post 1 last week, he prefers when she relaxes early.
“She’s a versatile filly, but I do like it when she sits back,” he said. “When she does that, she kicks pretty hard.”
