Oregon-breds take the spotlight at Portland Meadows

Sunday is Oregon Championship Day, one of the biggest days of the Portland Meadows season. All 10 races are restricted to Oregon-breds on a card that includes five stakes for Thoroughbreds and three for Quarter Horses.

There is a $8,135 carryover in the pick five, which will be held on races 6-10. The entire Oregon Championship card will be streamed live on DRF.com. First post is noon Pacific.

The Thoroughbred stakes include two races for 2-year-olds, two for 3-year-olds, and the Lethal Grande Sprint Championship Handicap for 3-year-olds and up.

Two of the better matchups on the card are in the 2-year-old stakes, the Bill Wineberg for males and the Janet Wineberg for fillies. Both races will be run at six furlongs.

:: OREGON CHAMPIONSHIP DAY: Get PPs, watch Sunday’s Portland Meadows card live

In the Janet Wineberg, Kozzys Kitkat and Mydaddysacowboy, both trained by Jonathan Nance, will face off for a second time. In their first meeting, a five-furlong maiden race Oct. 29, Kozzys Kitkat proved best by a neck.

Mydaddysacowboy ran well in that race. She turned two horses back on the lead, then resisted when challenged by Kozzys Kitkat in the stretch. She was trying to come back on at the wire after being headed in midstretch.

Mydaddysacowboy returned Nov. 16 to win a maiden race by 4 3/4 lengths. The 46 Beyer Speed Figure she earned that day is the highest in the field.

Kozzys Kitkat has not raced since beating her stablemate. She relaxed off the pace that day and then finished well when asked. The added furlong of Sunday’s race should work in herfavor. She enters off two bullet workouts for Nance.

In the Bill Wineberg, bettors will have to choose between Golden Gate Fields shipper Badrock Canyon and the locally based Gilly Gone.

Badrock Canyon has been competitive in maiden-claiming races ranging from $20,000 down to $8,000 at Golden Gate Fields and Emerald Downs but is still a maiden after eight starts.

Gilly Gone won a maiden race here Oct. 15 and then chased Oh Derek in a pair of stakes. Oh Derek is a Kentucky-bred gelding by Brother Derek who began his career at Hastings. He has been impressive in winning the Willamette River on Nov. 2 and the Foster Lake Handicap on Nov. 30.

Carl Command is the horse to beat in the Sprint Championship. In his last three starts, he has scored two front-running wins in claiming races for $10,000 and $7,500. Two races back, he challenged for the lead in the Mt. Hood Stakes before tiring. Carl Command is conditioned by Rigoberto Velasquez, the runaway leading trainer at Portland Meadows.

The other two stakes on the card are the Oregon His and Oregon Hers for 3-year-olds. The His should come down to Stoney River and Maddie’s Gold, who finished a neck apart last time out when second and third in the Stallion Stakes.

In the Hers, Aphiemi is back in with fillies after finishing seventh last time out against Maddie’s Gold and Stoney River in the Stallion Stakes.