Saturday Nite Ride in a class of her own in Wild Rose Handicap

Saturday Nite Ride will be an extremely short price when she runs in the $50,000 Wild Rose Handicap at Northlands Park on Saturday. The six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares drew five horses, but Saturday Nite Ride appears to be in a different league than her four rivals. Due to her overwhelming presence, there will be no show wagering. The Wild Rose will be run as race 8 with a post time of 4:48 p.m. Mountain.

Trained by Dennis Terry, Saturday Nite Ride hasn’t lost in three starts at Northlands, and she was named the 2013 champion older filly or mare in Alberta at the Night of Champions dinner held at the Matrix Hotel in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, last Saturday.

As good as she was at Northlands in 2013, toying with her competition in the Madamoiselle and City of Edmonton, she might be better this year. In her seasonal debut in a $35,000 optional claimer going six furlongs May 3, Saturday Nite Ride romped by 13 lengths.

Quincy Welch, who retains the mount aboard Saturday Nite Ride, was aboard the 5-year-old daughter of Flower Alley for the first time in that May 3 race. When Welch looked around and couldn’t find any challengers in midstretch, he completely wrapped up on the talented mare.

Terry was a little concerned about running her back in two weeks until he was reminded that it was more of a workout than a race.

“That’s true,” Terry said. “Quincy didn’t really push her, did he? She just loves to play the game, and she just loves it here.”

The Ron Grieves trainee Canaveral Leader looks as good as any to round out the exacta. The 4-year-old Alberta-bred filly is making her first start since winning the $56,240 Duchess of York last Oct. 14. She also won the $56,000 Northlands Oaks and the restricted 3- & 4-year-old Fillies Sales Stakes.

Silkworm figures to improve following her third-place finish behind Saturday Nite Ride in her first start this year.

Tempered Sapphire will be making her first start of 2014. Last year, she won the one-mile, $52,120 John Patrick, but in her two races against Saturday Nite Ride, she lost by a combined 27 lengths.

Ten Thirty completes the field.