Mon Coeur, High Test should have enough speed to work with

There should be plenty of speed to set up either Mon Coeur or High Test in a $17,500 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park Wednesday night. The six-furlong sprint drew 11 entrants, with Evening Island on the also-eligible list.

Mon Coeur and High Test are trained by Rod Cone and are coming out of the same $25,000 optional-claiming race won by Ready Racer June 18. Ready Racer was the champion sprinter in Alberta in 2013-14.

With Heribert Martinez aboard, High Test rallied to finish fourth and was beaten by less than two lengths. Mon Coeur ran an even race while finishing fifth, 1 1/4 lengths behind his stablemate.

On the surface, High Test looks more attractive with Martinez retaining the mount. Nonetheless, Mon Coeur had a three-wide trip, moves to the rail where he figures to save ground, and will be ridden by Quincy Welch for the first time. Welch has been one of the top jockeys at Northlands since he arrived in Alberta in 1997. In his career in Canada, he has won 1,828 Thoroughbred races, and his mounts have earned more than $23 million. He could move Mon Coeur up enough to pull off a small upset.

Kingoftherockies will be part of the pace and could be dangerous if he clears early. Trained by Robert MacDonald, Kingoftherockies reeled off six straight wins at Northlands in 2013. In all eight of his wins, Kingoftherockies has led from start to finish. In his first two starts this year, which came in $25,000 optional-claiming races, he forced the pace before tiring to finish third. In his latest outing, which came June 7 in another $25,000 optional-claiming race, he was disqualified from sixth to last for causing Change of Plan to clip heels and fall just after leaving the starting gate.

Pakal and Espresso Springs have speed and should keep Kingoftherockies honest.

◗ Jockey Shannon Beauregard is out indefinitely after being seriously injured in a training accident at Northlands Saturday morning. According to her agent, John Heath, Beauregard fractured six vertebrae in the incident.

“She is in a lot of pain, but she was sitting up at the hospital [Sunday], and the doctors are optimistic she won’t need surgery,” said Heath. “The good news is that her spine is in line, and they said it was an 85 percent chance they wouldn’t have to operate.”

Beauregard is third in the jockey standings with 21 wins.