Lincoln: Sooner Pride in good spot

Sooner Pride invades from his home base in Oklahoma and seeks his third straight win when he heads a field of six in the $12,500 Journal Star Stakes for 3-year-olds going six furlongs at the Nebraska State Fair Park at Lincoln.

Trained by O. J. Osborn, Sooner Pride has won 4 of 6 starts this year, including wins over older rivals in the Derby Day Handicap and the Jack Hammer Memorial at Blue Ribbon Downs. An Oklahoma-bred son of Notable Cat, Sooner Pride has posted a career mark of 7-1-0 from 13 career starts and earned over $67,000.

His only bad outing this year came at Oaklawn Park, where he tired to last in the Dixieland Stakes. He has since returned to top form. Sooner Pride drew post 1 and will have R.D. Williams aboard.

The Straw Man is the best of the local contingent. He has won two consecutive stakes - the Fonner Park Special against statebred rivals and the one-mile Nebraska Derby on May 7, when he scored a 7 1/4-length victory. He drew post 6, and trainer Jason Wise has named Dennis Collins to ride.

S C King returns to Nebraska after a trip to Prairie Meadows, where he was third in the Golden Circle Stakes behind Raving Rocket and Semaphore Man. Lalita Ontiveros trains S C King and has Armando Martinez set to ride from post 4.