Prairie Meadows: Mamie Eisenhower Stakes is wide open

ALTOONA, Iowa – The last three runnings of the $70,000 Mamie Eisenhower at Prairie Meadows, a six-furlong stakes for Iowa-bred fillies and mares, were won by the speed merchant Sakakawea. The search for a new division leader begins Friday evening.

Sakakawea, trained by Ray Tracy for his family’s Black Oak Farm, has embarked on a second career as a broodmare. She is in foal to Yes It’s True and also has an embryo, carried by a surrogate mare, by top Quarter Horse stallion One Famous Eagle.

In defense of Sakakawea’s title, Tracy will lead over Praire Cougar and Miss Nasty in the field of seven. The speedy Praire Cougar dueled for the lead before finishing third in a key April 19 allowance prep for the Mamie Eisenhower which was won by fellow Friday entrant Ginger Added. Miss Nasty, who does her running from off the pace, faded to sixth in that 5 1/2-furlong event.

The Dick Clark-trained Ginger Added, an earner of $256,871, has made all 11 of her starts here at Prairie Meadows. She will vie for favoritism with the consistent Queen Lilly Kay, who is trained by Kelly Von Hemel. Ginger Added went winlesss in four tries last year but returned with a vengeance on April 19 to register a career-best Beyer Figure of 76. Queen Lilly Kay finished well in that race to be second, beaten a half-length, and should be aided by the extra sixteenth of a mile of the Eisenhower.

The red-hot combination of owner Maggi Moss, trainer Chris Richard, and jockey Terry Thompson – winners of six races together already this meet – will be represented by the quick Cat’s Review, who could prove difficult to pass now that she has had a prep. Cat’s Review tired to fourth on April 19 and will likely try to seize command in the early going from Praire Cougar.

If the pace is hot and sets the race up for a closer, the late-rallying duo of Jokes N Jazz and Here Comes Polly, both Iowa-bred stakes winners, could make their presence felt. Trained by Chris Hartman, Jokes N Jazz makes her first start of the year, while Here Comes Polly, conditioned by Tim Martin, looks to be rounding into form for the third start of her form cycle.