Northlands Park: Count the Change in better spot in Wednesday feature

Toss out Count the Change’s most recent race, where she was overmatched in a $35,000 optional claimer Aug. 16, and she looks like the one to beat in Wednesday’s feature at Northlands Park.

The one-mile, $25,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares drew five horses and goes as race 2 on an eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.

Count the Change is having a big meet for trainer Ron Grieves. She already has won four races in her first six starts, and if she runs back to her win over Salsa Express in a one-mile, $25,000 optional claimer on July 29, she should be the winner. The classy Salsa Express won her next two starts in $35,000 optional-claiming races.

Count the Change ran into stakes winners Rubyintheruff and Awesome Plan when she came back going 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 16. She not only will appreciate the easier company she is facing Wednesday, but also the added distance. A 6-year-old Florida-bred by Exchange Rate, Count the Change has won half of her six starts going a flat mile, and she equaled her career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 71 in her win July 29.

She drew the rail, where Shannon Beauregard likely will put her into the race right from the start.

Pumpkin Hollow has a win at the distance in the $50,000 Alberta Oaks last year. The Oaks, which is restricted to Alberta-breds, was the last race she won, however. The Joan Petrowski trainee is coming off a third-place finish behind Salsa Express on Aug. 16 and could improve as a first-time Lasix user.

The 3-year-old filly Marry Me Vicky wasn’t a threat to Tell Me Lies and Silkworm in the $50,000 Sonoma Handicap on Aug. 16, but she made a late move to get up for third in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. Trained by Tim Rycroft, Marry Me Vicky won a one-mile, $12,000 maiden-claiming race by 4 1/4 lengths in her previous start.

Candy Alley is coming off a big effort in a first-level allowance race going six furlongs Aug. 12 and could be the one they have to catch with leading rider Rico Walcott aboard. Trained by Ernie Keller, Candy Alley has tried going around three turns just once in her 10-race career, finishing a distant fifth in the one-mile, $50,000 Freedom of the City Stakes last October.

Squiggly Gets Even completes the field.