Prairie Meadows track report

After the first week of the mixed meeting here in mid-July, the jockey and trainer races appeared to be foregone conclusions when Glenn Corbett and Dick Clark built commanding advantages.

With the 48-day mixed meeting now half over, Corbett still holds a commanding advantage, 30-17, over Cindy Noll and appears well on his way to fifth mixed-meet riding title in the past six years.

The trainers' race, however, has become much more interesting, as Kelly Von Hemel has saddled 17 winners at the meet to trail Clark by only three winners through Tuesday's races. Von Hemel has won with 29 percent of his starters at the meeting, compared to Clark's 20 percent win rate. Both Clark - Prairie Meadows's all-time leading trainer and a winner of four straight mixed-meet titles - and Von Hemel appear loaded for the remaining five weeks of the meeting.

* Prairie Meadows is now accepting entries for its Sept. 10 handicapping tournament. The entry fee of $400 is due by Sept. 1.

The tournament will be a live-money event with each player receiving his entry fee back in a mutuel voucher. Players will be able to make win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, daily double, pick three, and pick four wagers on any track that Prairie simulcasts, as well as on the live card, between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The three finishers with the highest balances at the end of the day will receive an expense-paid trip and an entry into the Daily Racing Form/NTRA national handicapping championship in Las Vegas in January. For further information on the tournament, contact Brooke Beaman at (515) 967-8501.