Puntsville fresh for Scherer Memorial

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The 3-year-old filly Diadura is back to race at Arlington for the first time since she won the Arlington-Washington Lassie last summer. Unfortunately for her, she is running into an older horse, Puntsville, who is at the height of her powers for Saturday’s $65,000 Richie Scherer Memorial.

The Scherer Memorial is one of two six-furlong overnight stakes races, along with the Jeff Lynn Memorial, on a solid 10-race card. The races are aptly named for two trainers who died this year.

Puntsville is an Illinois-bred in an open race, but she is very much the horse Diadura and the six other fillies and mares must beat in the Scherer Memorial. Puntsville, a 5-year-old Cashel Castle homebred trained by Michele Boyce for the S D Brilie Limited Partnership, shipped to Canterbury Park and won the $50,000 Hoist Her Flag Stakes over dirt by 3 1/2 lengths, and she might be an even better horse over Arlington’s Polytrack.

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Puntsville finished second as the odds-on favorite when last seen here June 10 in the Isaac Murphy Handicap, but she surely bounced that day while running just 15 days after a fast win in her first start following a five-month layoff. Puntsville has gotten more than a month’s break since the Hoist Her Flag, and with only three races this season, she still should be a fresh horse.

Diadura won her debut and the Arlington-Washington Lassie last summer, but has since lost six in a row, including three straight second-level allowance races. Still, Diadura, who shipped from the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland for trainer Mike Stidham, never has lost a one-turn race on a synthetic surface, and she does get six pounds from Puntsville.

Diadura and another horse who is 2 for 2 over Arlington’s main track, Delicate Lady, could offer value in exactas and trifectas even for those not inclined to try to beat Puntsville. Thoughtless is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line but was thumped by Puntsville at Canterbury and is unproven on Polytrack.

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◗ Good Bye Greg does not run a lot, but when he runs at Arlington, he nearly always wins. Seven races over Arlington’s Polytrack have produced six wins, and Good Bye Greg will try to notch another one Saturday in the $65,000 Jeff Lynn Memorial.

Good Bye Greg also was entered in the Bold Venture Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine, but trainer Larry Rivelli said the horse will start at Arlington. Shogood was cross-entered Saturday at Arlington and will be scratched from the Lynn Memorial to start in an allowance race, according to trainer Scott Becker, who trains Good Bye Greg’s main rival on Saturday, Goneghost.

Good Bye Greg is a 6-year-old with 12 starts. He is not easy to keep sound, and Good Bye Greg’s connections, Rivelli and Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC, race him sparingly each season at Arlington. Good Bye Greg has run twice this year, both times for a $50,000 tag in races also open to second-level allowance horses, and won both times. His best game is going to the lead, but in the right situation, Good Bye Greg can sit off the pace while in the clear.

Goneghost gave futile chase to Good Bye Greg here July 8, finishing second by two lengths after mounting an upper-stretch challenge. But Goneghost was drawn inside Good Bye Greg last time, breaks from his outside Saturday, and certainly has more room to improve than his older rival.

Since his defeat to Good Bye Greg, the 4-year-old Goneghost has easily won a Polytrack route at Arlington and a dirt sprint at Fairmount, and he just might turn the tables Saturday.