She'sabrees, Ghost Locket get rematch in Prairie Rose
Maybe a wet track helped She’sabrees defeat odds-on favorite Ghost Locket in a May 13 allowance race at Prairie Meadows, but with more rain in the local forecast throughout this week, conditions could once again favor She’sabrees in the $45,000 Prairie Rose Stakes on Wednesday night.
Ghost Locket, trained by Don Von Hemel and to be ridden by Shane Laviolette, is a far more established stakes horse than She’sabrees, who has mainly been a claimer and starter-allowance horse in her recent history. Ghost Locket, meanwhile, has been an allowance and stakes horse, and she was odds-on in the recent allowance race after a third-place finish in the $150,000 Carousel at Oaklawn Park.
Ghost Locket drew the rail Wednesday, which could wind up working out fine: There’s a paucity of real early speed in the Prairie Rose, and Ghost Locket just might be fast enough to make the lead. She’s not hapless in the mud and went wire to wire last summer in the $100,000 Saylorville at Prairie Meadows the last time she made the front in a sprint race.
She’sabrees, meanwhile, earned a career-best 82 Beyer Speed Figure for her upset of Ghost Locket, though the fact that high-percentage trainer Federico Villafranco haltered her two races ago supports the notion that her form boost might prove sustainable. Last out, she broke from the rail but wound up rallying down the center of the track, running right past Ghost Locket for a three-length win.
Hero On Saturday and Stormquility, drawn in posts 7 and 8 in an eight-horse field, each have a chance at a longer price. Hero On Saturday is the less exposed of the pair, a 4-year-old filly who has raced in routes in six of her last eight starts. She won twice going shorter this spring at Fonner Park and is 1 for 1 on wet tracks. Stormquility, a Will Rogers Downs stakes winner last out on April 4, doesn’t possess blazing speed, but she’s fast enough to work over into a good pressing position before hitting the turn.