Mr. Jagermeister looking to audition for Mystic Lake Derby

Mother Nature thwarted trainer Valorie Lund’s plan to work Mr. Jagermeister on turf last weekend, but she hopes the talented Minnesota-bred 3-year-old can get in a drill on the Canterbury Park grass Sunday.

Mr. Jagermeister has made all eight of his starts in dirt sprints, but if he works to Lund’s satisfaction on turf, she plans to enter him for the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby on June 23 at Canterbury. That race also would mark Mr. Jagermeister’s first start around two turns.

“We got rained off the turf both days last weekend,” Lund said Wednesday. “We’ll see if we can get on the grass and work this weekend. Right now, we don’t know what we’re doing with him. I’m not going to run him on [turf] if I don’t get to see how he goes on it.”

If Mr. Jagermeister can’t get on turf to work or doesn’t handle it in his breeze, Lund said he would be pointed to the $50,000 Victor S. Myers Stakes, a six-furlong race for Minnesota-bred 3-year-olds on July 4. Mr. Jagermeister would be a 1-10 favorite in the Myers. Making his 3-year-old debut, he dueled Ax Man into defeat in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes, and after an easy Turf Paradise allowance win, he ran into the freakish Mitole in the Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn, finishing second.

Most recently, Mr. Jagermeister beat older Minnesota-bred sprinters by more than eight lengths May 19 in the 10,000 Lakes Stakes.

◗ There are decent features at Canterbury and Arlington on Friday. Canterbury’s last of 10 races has just a five-horse field, but the dirt route includes two stakes-class horses in Underpressure and Malibu Pro.

The Arlington feature, race 3, is an Illinois-bred Polytrack sprint that includes Unscathed and Smoke ‘n’ Gloat. Unscathed is a six-time winner from 10 starts on Arlington’s main track and has a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 92 on the surface. Smoke ‘n’ Gloat has struggled to find his best form this season but had a strong summer of 2017 racing over Arlington’s Polytrack, including a win in the Springfield Stakes.