Prospector’s Blues cuts back to sprint for Inaugural

Prospector’s Blues will be out for his third career stakes win on Saturday, when he turns back to a sprint distance for the $40,000 Inaugural at Arapahoe Park in Aurora, Colo.

The six-furlong race for 3-year-olds is the first stakes of the 39-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that opened Friday.

Prospector’s Blues could go favored against nine others, including fellow stakes winners Three Sixteen, Sky T, Tribal Echo, and Passed Due.

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Inaugural, race 8

KEY CONTENDERS

Prospector’s Blues (Last 3 Beyers: 53-61-55)

◗ He will be cutting back from a win at 1 1/16 miles in the $48,000 Gene Fleming Breeders’ Derby on April 25 at Turf Paradise. Earlier in his career, Prospector’s Blues won at six furlongs in the Arizona Breeders’ Futurity.

◗ Prospector’s Blues might get a stalking trip on the turnback, perhaps sitting off Tropic Vision, who comes off a win at five furlongs; Z Smoking Gun, who last won at 5 1/2 furlongs; and Passed Due, who exits a third-place finish to quality winner Dirt Monster in the $55,000 Duke City Sprint at Albuquerque.

Prater Sixty Four (Last 3 Beyers: 52-56-55)

◗ He was second in the Gene Fleming Breeders’ Derby, beaten a half-length at 19-1.

◗ Prater Sixty Four is one of three starters in the field for trainer Jonathan Nance, who also sends out My Charlie Boy, a recent maiden winner at Golden Gate Fields, and Three Sixteen, a stakes winner at Portland Meadows.

◗ Travis Wales, the winner of last year’s riding title at Arapahoe, has the mount on the rail-drawn Prater Sixty Four.