Scherer well positioned for Minnesota Oaks, Minnesota Derby

No trainer has won the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks during the same year since 1933, but trainer Gary Scherer can win a derby and an oaks on the same card Wednesday.

Granted, the card takes place at Canterbury Park, and the races in question are the $100,000 Minnesota Oaks and the $100,000 Minnesota Derby. It’s not a Hall of Fame-making proposition, but this could be a big day for the Scherer barn.

Weekend Ride is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the Minnesota Derby, a one-mile, 70-yard dirt race restricted to Minnesota-bred 3-year-olds, and he has something to prove having never started in a route. Sprinting during this Canterbury meet, Weekend Ride won the Victor S. Myers Stakes for Minnesota-bred 3-year-olds, and more recently finished second in an allowance race without a statebred restriction and open to older horses. Weekend Ride was beaten six lengths in that July 29 start, but was defeated by only a 5-year-old named Slews Hymn, who rolled to victory making a belated career debut earlier in the meet before thumping Weekend Ride.

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Weekend Ride, by Midshipman, is a half-brother to Ready to Runaway, who will be an overwhelming stakes favorite later on the card and has proven capable in two-turn races. Eight others are entered, three of whom Weekend Ride defeated in the Myers last month. One new face worth noting is second-time starter Northern Playboy, who won his career debut sprinting and has the pedigree to stay this longer distance.

Rush Hour Traffic, Scherer’s entrant in the Minnesota Oaks, should offer longer odds than Weekend Ride and could be an appealing play. Winner of the Northern Lights Debutante last season at Canterbury, Rush Hour Traffic returned from a long layoff June 16 with a modest performance in a turf-sprint allowance before finishing a mildly closing second to Minnesota Oaks entrant Defend the Rose in the July 1 Frances Genter Stakes, a dirt sprint. Rush Hour Traffic has a good foundation now from which to take a step forward Wednesday and is by the Unbridled’s Song stallion, Cross Traffic, a source of some stamina, and is out of the mare Dana’s Lucky Lady. Dana’s Lucky Lady also produced Dame Plata, who races in a stakes on this card and has proven capable in two-turn dirt races.

Defend the Rose, one of three entrants for trainer Mac Robertson along with Rental Pool and Imminent Threat, figures to be favored. She exits a pair of turf routes not restricted to Minnesota-breds and should go to the lead for jockey Roimes Chirinos, who is having a good meet with 25 winners.

Robertson also has the likely favorite, Hot Shot Kid, in the $50,000 Wally’s Choice, and the sure favorite, Ready to Runaway, in the $50,000 Glitter Star. Both races are carded at 1 1/16 miles on dirt and restricted to Minnesota-breds, but the Glitter Star is open only to females.

Hot Shot Kid is a bona fide Canterbury star, with a record of 13-3-0 from 17 starts over the Canterbury dirt track, and a local turf-stakes win last summer. Hot Shot Kid is capable of going two turns, but prefers distances of one mile and shorter, and as the 4-5 morning-line chalk is worth playing against Wednesday. The choice to beat him is Dame Plata, who was talented as a 2- and 3-year-old sprinter but has prospered since trainer Francisco Bravo switched him to routes this year at age 4. Dame Plata ran below form May 20 at Will Rogers Downs, but has three other two-turn wins this season and ought to get a favorable setup.

Ready to Runaway, however, is rock solid at a minuscule price in the Glitter Star. This 4-year-old filly couldn’t show her best in a turf experiment July 2, though she still finished a close second in a statebred-restricted stakes. But she has won her last five Minnesota-bred dirt races, two around two turns and four in stakes competition, by more than 30 combined lengths. With a good draw on the outside of just four foes, Chirinos should mainly engage in a steering exercise to get the money in the Wednesday nightcap.

First post for this 10-race card is 4:40 p.m. Central. The program also includes a sales futurity with the first stakes, the Oaks, set for 7:40 p.m.