Lone Star: Sword Trick needs to conserve his speed

Sword Trick and Cowgirl N Up are the most accomplished 3-year-olds in their respective divisions of the $75,000 Texas Stallion Stakes at Lone Star Park on Saturday. But both have something significant to prove. Sword Trick and Cowgirl N Up are seeking their first two-turn wins in the 1 1/16-mile races, and controlling their speed will be key if they are to succeed, according to their trainers, Bret Calhoun and Caroline Dodwell.

Sword Trick heads the colts and geldings division, which goes as the fifth race. He is a three-time stakes winner facing less experienced rivals, and has compiled a 2-for-2 record at Lone Star Park, where last year he was named 2-year-old of the meet for his dominant win in the 5 1/2-furlong division of the Texas Stallion Stakes.

Sword Trick went on to capture the six-furlong division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Retama Park by 13 lengths, and also won the $50,000 Groovy two starts later at Sam Houston Race Park. Saturday's race will be his first since finishing third in the one-mile division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston on Feb. 18.

"Last time I thought we had a really good opportunity," said Calhoun, who trains Sword Trick for his breeder, Clarence Scharbauer Jr. "[But] he was pressed outside, just kind of got a little speed crazy and never relaxed."

Sword Trick could get a different trip Saturday, perhaps sitting just off Como Se Llama, who will be making his two-turn debut from the rail, one start off a front-running allowance sprint win at Oaklawn. Sword Trick will break to his immediate outside, in post 2.

Others set to start include Defiant Flyer, an Arlington Park shipper who won the one-mile division of the Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston, and Boca Bay, who was second in the race named the Jim's Orbit.

Cowgirl N Up is a two-time stakes winner who leads a field of eight fillies Saturday. She won a five-furlong turf sprint at Lone Star on April 14, then was second last out when moving to two turns on the grass, a race in which she set a pressured pace April 28.

"We never could relax going the seven and a half," said Dodwell.

Saturday will be another distance test for Cowgirl N Up.

"I feel pretty good about it, because we've spent the last two weeks getting her to relax, and gallop behind horses, and doing it relaxed," said Dodwell.

The field also includes Color Code, winner of the one-mile division of the Stallion Stakes.