Nance has two shots in sprint

PORTLAND, Ore. - will make a formidable team in Friday's top offering at Portland Meadows, a six-furlong sprint for open $2,500 claimers that has drawn a field of eight.

Chantilly Lad and Billy White Shoes are trained by Jonathan Nance, who also owns Chantilly Lad, and they will race as an entry Friday.

Chantilly Lad, an 8-year-old, will be seeking his 10th win in a career that has netted more than $100,000 in earnings. Chantilly Lad won a six-furlong test for restricted $2,500 company here in November, and he is coming off a narrow miss in a 4 1/2-furlong event for $3,200 sprinters Dec. 6, when he was beaten just a neck by City Parkway in 54.21.

Should Chantilly Lad falter, Billy White Shoes may be able to rescue the race for those who back the Nance coupling. Billy White Shoes, one of two 3-year-olds in the field, was re-claimed by Nance for Yo Racing out of his last try, an off-the-board effort against $3,200 claimers at a mile Dec. 19. Earlier at the meet, he just missed against restricted $6,250 company at 5 1/2 furlongs and won at the same level at a mile.

Winning Wager, a Jim Fergason-trained 3-year-old, lures leading rider Juan Gutierrez off both of the Nance trainees and merits consideration on that basis. Winning Wager is coming off two poor efforts against $4,000 claimers at Turf Paradise in November, but he won twice last summer at Emerald. Gutierrez was up for the first of those scores, when he registered a neck victory in a six-furlong test for $5,000 maidens.