Night Ops justifies favoritism in Prairie Meadows Cornhusker
Night Ops easily won the Grade 3, $100,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker on Saturday evening on a night where an Iowa-bred filly shined and the Iowa Derby ended in a controversial disqualification.
Night Ops, who paid $4.80 as the favorite, stalked the pace of My Sixth Sense and Dunph under Martin Garcia, moved to contend for the lead at the quarter pole of the 1 1/8-mile race as Dunph gave way between horses, and comfortably took the measure of My Sixth Sense to prevail by 3 3/4 lengths for trainer Brad Cox and owner Steve Landers.
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My Sixth Sense held second in a solid showing, while Rated R Superstar finished a distant third as Dunph faded to fourth. Off a quarter mile in 23.84 and a half in a very modest 48.37, Night Ops clocked 1:48.30 for 1 1/8 miles on a fast track. Night Ops, a 4-year-old by Warrior’s Reward out of Bear All, by Kitalpha, won the Essex Stakes at Oaklawn earlier this season.
In the Grade 3, $100,000 Iowa Oaks, Iowa-bred Flat Out Speed conquered two turns and open stakes competition while trying both for the first time. Flat Out Speed ($20.20) made the early lead but was supplanted on the front end when Lagoon Falls rushed along the rail to set the pace around the first turn. But as Lagoon Falls beat a steady retreat from the half-mile pole to finish last, Flat Out Speed kept up her energy, took a three-length lead to the stretch call, and came home 1 3/4 lengths better than Aurelia Garland. Ocean Breeze, the 6-5 favorite in her two-turn debut, had aim at the winner in mid-stretch but flattened out to finish a well-beaten third.
Lynn Chleborad trains Flat Out Speed for Poindexter Thoroughbreds while jockey Alex Canchari sat at the controls. Flat Out Speed, who clocked 1:42.79 for 1 1/16 miles, is by Flat Out and out of the Street Sense mare Blue Gallina. The filly now has won five of six starts, including three Iowa-bred stakes.
A race earlier, Canchari piloted Letmeno to a first-place finish in the $100,000 Iowa Derby, but for the second year in a row, Prairie Meadows stewards disqualified the local derby winner, elevating Acre to victory. Letmeno, according to the official chart, “leaned out at the furlong marker,” briefly impeding Acre directly on his outside. Contact between the two was minimal, as was the duration of the drifting, and Acre proceeded to drift in toward Letmeno the remainder of the race, falling a neck short at the finish, but the stewards following an inquiry still took Letmeno down.
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In the 2019 Iowa Derby, Winning Number was disqualified from first to third for homestretch interference.
Martin Garcia rode Acre for trainer Bill Mott and owner-breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider. Acre is by Blame out of Greenery, by the great Galileo, and won for just the second time in six starts. He ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.74 and paid $8.90 to win. Billy Batts finished third in a race reduced to just five runners when Hondo Lane was scratched.
* Jockey Sophie Doyle, a native of England, scored her 300th American victory on Sunday when D’Rapper won the $50,000 Iowa Sprint for the second year in a row. D’Rapper somehow paid $25.60 despite facing only three foes, including runner-up Welder, the 1-2 favorite. Scott Young trains D’Rapper for Danny Caldwell.