Mr. Jagermeister, Firstmate strong favorites in statebred stakes

Mr. Jagermeister is a Minnesota-bred who is simply too good for Minnesota-bred competition. He’s won his three statebred-restricted starts by 37 combined lengths, a main reason why Mr. Jagermeister is the 1-9 morning-line favorite for the $50,000 Victor S. Myers Stakes on Wednesday at Canterbury Park.

Mr. Jagermeister won the 10,000 Lakes Stakes on May 19 by more than eight lengths, and while he benefited as a 3-year-old getting weight from older foes in that start, the weight break alone didn’t account for the thrashing. Now, Mr. Jagermeister is matched against fellow 3-year-olds in the six-furlong Myers, and barring a major step back, Mr. Jagermeister should trounce four rivals.

Trained by Valorie Lund, a co-owner of the colt, Mr. Jagermeister exits one of two poor performances in his nine-start career, and anyone desperate to beat the favorite might hang his opposition on the fact that he comes back on just 10 days’ rest. But Mr. Jagermeister has easy excuses for his 10th-place finish in the Mystic Lake Derby, his turf and two-turn debut, and doesn’t need to get back to his best Wednesday to win at microscopic odds.

The Myers is race 4 (post time, 2:16 p.m. Central) and is immediately preceded by the co-featured Frances Genter Stakes, the Myers’s female-restricted sister race. Here, Firstmate won’t be nearly as short a price as Mr. Jagermeister, but she does figure to be the defined favorite.

Firstmate made her career debut last summer at Canterbury in the Northern Lights Debutante, a Minnesota-bred 2-year-old filly race, and won by nine lengths. She was overmatched in a pair of open stakes races last fall at Churchill Downs but confirmed her position as a superior Minnesota-bred by winning a May 27 statebred-restricted allowance race, her first start in seven months, by two lengths.

Joe Sharp trains Firstmate for Barry and Joni Butzow, and drawing the rail should prove no impediment for a filly who will drop back and make one run.

Just five others are entered, and Helen’sphotoflash is the most interesting of them. Helen’sphotoflash didn’t debut until May and scored a maiden win in her second start that puts her in the win conversation Wednesday. She cuts back from a two-turn race over a sloppy track June 16 and showed plenty of positional pace in her two sprints.