Northlands Park: Zippy Request should like shorter trip in Monday allowance

Zippy Request looks like the one to catch in a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares that will serve as the Canada Day feature at Northlands Park on Monday. The six-furlong sprint goes as race 7 on the eight-race card, which begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.

Trained by Rod Cone, Zippy Request was running above her conditions when she set an honest pace before tiring to finish fourth in a second-level allowance race going 6 1/2 furlongs June 22. She should appreciate the easier company and the slightly shorter distance Monday.

A 3-year-old, Zippy Request scored a front-running win in a maiden special weight race in her first start this year before being overmatched against Tell Me Lies in a $35,000 optional-claiming race May 31. Tell Me Lies won the $50,000 Chariot Chaser in her next start.

Leading apprentice Amie Pooli will be aboard Zippy Request. Pooli won her first stakes race aboard Tempered Sapphire in the $50,000 John Patrick for fillies and mares Friday night.

Sweet Nectar will attract attention from the betting public because she is being ridden by Rico Walcott, who is running away with the jockey title. Walcott, who won six races last Wednesday, has 49 wins, 29 more than Pooli, who sits in second.

Sweet Nectar is trained by Robertino Diodoro, who has heated up lately and is winning races at a 29 percent clip at the meet.

Sweet Nectar is coming off a sixth-place finish in a $16,000 conditional-claiming race at Betfair Hollywood Park on April 27 for trainer Vann Belvoir. Following the race, she was purchased privately by Tim Gordon and Darryl Paranica and transferred to Diodoro’s barn. Her only win came when she debuted in a $40,000 maiden-claiming race at Santa Anita in March 2012.

Silver Silhouette will be making her first start for Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Red Smith. Silver Silhouette’s lone win came in a one-mile maiden special weight race on the expansive Woodbine turf course in 2011. She went unplaced in four starts last year, but her best race in 2012 was on dirt at Fort Erie, where she finished fourth in a first-level allowance, so she should handle the traditional surface at Northlands.

Alberta Oaks runner-up Countryfire figures to move forward in her second start of the year.

Timely Flight should make good use of her speed from the rail.