Local runner Glengarry favored in Iowa Sprint on first night of festival

Trainer Doug Anderson will attempt to rack up a few wins for the home team Friday night when he sends out local prep winners Glengarry and Insensitive in stakes making up the first card of the annual Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows.

Glengarry is the probable favorite in the $100,000 Iowa Sprint, while Insensitive will start as a chief contender in the $100,000 Iowa Distaff that also drew millionaire Hoosier Philly.

The card features four stakes on the first night of the festival. Another four will be decided Saturday night. Purses for the eight stakes total more than $1.2 million. First post both days is 4 p.m. Central.

It’s the biggest weekend of the meet at Prairie Meadows, where Nebraska native Anderson is in the midst of a high percentage season, winning with at a 26 percent clip through Wednesday.

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“This is the 25th year I’ve been up here,” he said. “You might say it’s kind of a home track for me.”

Glengarry is 3 for 4 at Prairie Meadows, with his latest win coming in the Ed Skinner on June 8. He outbroke the field, set the pace while racing off the rail, was engaged from the inside heading into the stretch, then went on to a 2 1/4-length win under Tyler Bacon.

“We kind of have gotten to figure him out a little bit, I think, in that he really doesn’t like the inside,” Anderson said. “He’s got enough speed that he always gets down to the rail, but I think if we just keep him out where he has something on the inside of him, he likes that. Tyler rode him just perfect last time, and he responded.”

Bacon will be aboard Glengarry when he starts from post 6 in the field of seven.

“We drew favorably,” Anderson said. “We’ll just see what happens. If somebody wants to go, we can just kind of sit off of them a little and he’ll make a run after them. He just doesn’t have to have the lead, but he sure looks like he’s the speed of the speed in there.”

Glengarry has long shown talent and is settling into a more composed horse at 4.

“It used to be he’d come out here [to train and] he was just on the bit,” Anderson said. “He was tough to gallop, but I’ve got a good hand on him now that has got him to learn to relax. He’ll come up here now and he’ll stand and enjoy himself for an hour if you’d let him. So, he’s matured a lot. He’s very professional.”

Glengarry is a four-time stakes winner Anderson races with Aaron Kennedy and Toby Joseph.

Others in the Iowa Sprint field include stakes winners Redline, Navy Seal, General Shipman, and Raymond, who was the co-winningest horse last meet at Oaklawn Park. Second I D is making his stakes debut after winning his first three starts, his most recent a second-level allowance at Lone Star Park.

Iowa Distaff

Insensitive became a stakes winner on June 6 at Prairie Meadows in the Jack Bishop, which was run at the same 1 1/16-mile distance as the Iowa Distaff.

The Distaff drew a field of five fillies and mares, including multiple stakes winners Corningstone and Wild Bout Hillary, and Hoosier Philly, a Grade 2 winner who will add a set of blinkers.

“Insensitive is doing good and we’re looking forward to see if we can’t run with the big boys with her,” said Anderson. “She’s always been a decent horse.”

Insensitive stalked the pace and went on to a two-length win in the Jack Bishop. She could get a similar trip in the Iowa Distaff from post 2.

“[I’d like] if we can kind of just sit right off of it, a couple of lengths off of it,” Anderson said. “It looks like there’s a lot of speed in there and hopefully we can just sit back there and come and get them on the end of it, like she likes to.”

Jockey Alex Birzer, who was aboard for the Jack Bishop and is named on Insensitive for the Iowa Distaff, is not scheduled to ride Friday night due to a recent injury.

Francisco Arrieta has the mount on Hoosier Philly from the rail, while Jack Bishop runner-up Broken Hearts Bay will start from post 4 under Bacon.

◗ Sassy C W, the unbeaten 2-year-old filly who won the Astoria last out at Saratoga, seeks the third win of her career in the $100,000 Prairie Gold Lassie.

◗ Oeuvre, Legadema, and Jersey Pearl meet in the $100,000 Saylorville.

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