Prairie Meadows: Atta Boy Roy, Ventana top lineup for Iowa Sprint Handicap
The Iowa Festival of Racing commences Friday evening with the initial set of three stakes – the $100,000 Saylorville Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares; the $100,000 Iowa Distaff, a 1 1/16-mile race for the females; and the featured $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap, an open-six furlong event for 3-year-olds and up.
The Iowa Sprint Handicap, which drew a field of seven, looks like a showdown between Canterbury Park-based Atta Boy Roy, trained by Valorie Lund, and the Bob Baffert trainee Ventana. Both come in to the race in excellent form.
Atta Boy Roy, winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Handicap last year, recently ran a brave second in the Grade 3 Aristides at Churchill, beaten a length by Noble’s Promise. On Preakness day at Pimlico, Ventana gutted out a game neck victory over Immortal Eyes in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap.
Locally based Humble Smarty, recent track record setter at Canterbury on May 30 when he blazed five furlongs in 56.10 seconds, and Ducky Drake, a 9-year-old gelding who broke the Prairie Meadows 5 1/2-furlong track record on May 27 travelling the distance in 1:02.26, add intrigue.
Beat the Blues, trained by Bret Calhoun, heads the Saylorville field of six. Most recently, the 4-year-old Beat the Blues missed by a neck to Sassy Image in Churchill’s Grade 3 Winning Colors.
Baffert appears to hold the key to the Iowa Distaff, which drew seven, with the speedy 5-year-old mare Freedom Star, winner of Oaklawn’s Grade 3 Azeri Stakes and Sunland’s Harry Hensen Handicap in her last two starts. As is the case with Ventana, Rafael Bejarano ships in to ride.
Despite a rainy start to the week, the advance forecast promises beautiful weather for both Friday and Saturday evening. The Iowa Festival of Racing continues Saturday with three Grade 3 stakes: the $200,000 Iowa Oaks, $250,000 Iowa Derby, and $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.