A revitalized Stone E Motion sharp for Covered Bridges

Stone E Motion heads a field of six Quarter Horses going 870 yards in Saturday’s $25,000 Covered Bridges Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
The 5-year-old Stone E Motion has shown marked improvement since having his sciatic nerve treated in January, when he was running for a $5,000 claiming tag at Hialeah. Since returning in March, Stone E Motion reeled off four straight wins at Remington Park, including three Grade 3 stakes.
He had already qualified for the MBNA Distance Challenge Championship before his second-place finish as the 3-2 favorite in the Red Distance Challenge at Prairie Meadows on Aug. 27. In that race, Stone E Motion had to alter course entering the stretch and was unable to run-down Lefty Ray.
Stone E Motion takes on a couple of interesting entrants, including A Dasha Red, who returns on four days’ rest after he won an 870-yard $7,500 claiming race on Tuesday by 2 3/4 lengths, and Dangerous Guns, who is coming off a 1 1/2-length victory in an 870-yard allowance race on Sept. 11.
◗ The first Quarter Horse-only meet at Prairie Meadows has brought a lot new faces to the track, but it is horsemen who have raced here at mixed meetings before that find themselves atop the standings.
Stormy Smith leads the jockey colony with 23 wins and $263,913 in earnings. Smith is three wins ahead of Bill Ives, and four wins ahead of Cody Smith. Stormy Smith is winning at a 23 percent clip, with a very strong $3.16 return on investment.
Charley Hunt has come on strongly as of late to take the lead in the trainer standings with 19 wins and $165,718 in earnings. Since Aug. 31, Hunt has 13 wins from 26 starts. Hunt is three wins ahead of Brian Muse.
◗ Friday, Sept. 24, is Champions Night, which features three graded stakes, and there are five stakes on Iowa Champions Night on Saturday, Sept. 25.