Prairie Meadows Festival starts with stakes triple

ALTOONA, Iowa – The 2014 Iowa Festival of Racing, consisting of six open stakes races worth more than $1 million in total, starts Friday night with three stakes: the $100,000 Saylorville, a six-furlong dash for fillies and mares; the $100,000 Iowa Distaff, contested over 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares; and the $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap, also a six-furlong event.

The festival concludes Saturday with three Grade 3 races: the Iowa Oaks, Iowa Derby, and Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.

The classy veteran Delaunay tops the Iowa Sprint Handicap, which drew a field of six. Delaunay, who will be ridden for the first time by Robby Albarado, arrives in peak form after drubbing seven rivals by 3 1/2 lengths in the Grade 3 Aristides at Churchill Downs on May 31.

The speedster Work All Week, who is 9 for 11, including six straight wins, ships in from Arlington Park and has been off since a 1 1/2-length win in Oaklawn’s Hot Springs on March 8. Mico Margarita, trained by Steve Asmussen, comes in from Churchill Downs.

The local contingent for the Iowa Sprint comprises multiple Prairie Meadows stakes winner Alsvid, the late-rallying Apprehender, and Frederico.

Defending Saylorville champ Livi Makenzie is entered in both the Saylorville and the Distaff but probably will run in the Saylorville. She’ll face the top three finishers from the May 24 Prairie Rose here – American Sugar, Canopy Lane, and Cruzette, who were separated by less than a length.

Saylorville entrants Broken Blues, Elitism, and Even Song each come off a win here, and Dancin’ Lil won a pair of Oaklawn allowance races and makes her stakes debut. The stakes-placed Flashy Campaign turns back from seven to six furlongs and makes the trek up from Churchill for trainer Tom Amoss. The locally based pair of Challenging and Zuni Women turn back in distance from two-turn routes.

The Iowa Distaff attracted 10, headed by Diva’s Diamond, Hitechnoweenie, Hung the Moon, and Quiet Success. Diva’s Diamond won her second consecutive Peach of It Handicap, an Illinois-bred stakes at Hawthorne, in April. Hung the Moon edged past Hitechnoweenie for a 1 1/4-length score in the May 26 Wild Rose, the local prep for the Distaff. Hitechnoweenie won the 2013 Panthers here.

Quiet Success, another live chance for Amoss, looked sharp when beaten a neck in Charles Town’s Sugar Maple on April 19. Deep closers Clarinda, Gigglin’ Gal, Glorys Last Chance, Lady Haddassah, and Liberty Girl also were entered in the Distaff.

The Iowa Festival of Racing is conducted each night as races 7-9 on 10-race cards that begin at 6:30 Central. Comfortable early-summer weather is forecast for both Friday and Saturday evenings.