Prairie Meadows: L D's Shes Special out for three-peat in Hawkeyes Handicap

With the local prep races for the June 24-25 Iowa Festival of Racing over, attention returns to the Iowa-breds in this Friday's featured $75,000 guaranteed Hawkeyes Handicap.

For fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles, the Hawkeyes drew eight and sees the return of two-time defending champion L D's Shes Special, the star of breeder-owner-trainer Larry Dunbar's small string. A deep-closing 8-year-old daughter of Evansville Slew, she will be ridden by fellow veteran Perry Compton. She finished strongly in her June 5 1:02 five-furlong workout over this surface.

Among her chief rivals are a pair of improving, lightly-raced 3-year-old fillies in Cream of Soup and Ginger Added, both of whom will be trying two-turn racing for the first time.

Cream of Soup, an attractive roan daughter of Alphabet Soup, won a May 20th six-furlong allowance sprint by a 1/2 length for leading trainer Chris Richard.

Richard, who predominantly trains for stalwart leading owner Maggi Moss and Cream of Soup's owner-breeder River Ridge Ranch, is an astounding 31 for 81 this meet through Tuesday's racing.

The undefeated Ginger Added, trained by Dick Clark for co-owners River Ridge Ranch and Prairie Valley Farm, crushed her fellow 3-year-old fillies by 1 1/2 lengths in taking the May 21st six-furlong Bob Bryant Stakes in a quick 1:09.96.

The Lynn Chleborad-trained trio of Courtney J, Abydos and Oxy Ten, who is 2 for 2 this season in Altoona, round out the field along with Rico's Posse and the Kelly Von Hemel-trained Go Milan Go.