Special Reserve at a peak approaching Iowa Sprint
Special Reserve could be emerging as a real player in the North American dirt-sprint division but will need all his budding ability to win the $100,000 Iowa Sprint on Saturday night at Prairie Meadows.
Special Reserve exits the best race he’s ever run, a definitive 1 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint, where jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. eased up in the final stages after glancing back and seeing his mount already had overwhelmed the opposition. Special Reserve got a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure, validating the sharply improved form he’d shown in two previous starts following a $40,000 claim by owners Paradise Farm and David Staudac and trainer Mike Maker.
At Pimlico, Special Reserve broke from post 8 and got a comfortable pressing trip. At Prairie Meadows, he and jockey Junior Alvarado are stuck down in post 1, a front-runner buried inside a bevy of other speed types. Special Reserve’s TimeformUS early pace number stands at 121, but there are horses with 110, 116, and 119 drawn to his outside.
The Iowa Sprint (race 8, post time 7:07 p.m. Central) is one of three stakes Saturday at Prairie Meadows, wedged between the Iowa Distaff and the Saylorville. The Sprint has a surprisingly rich history, having been won by the likes of Work All Week, who in 2014 went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint that fall; Majesticperfection, who got a 117 Beyer in his 2010 victory before winning the Grade 1 Alfred Vanderbilt at Saratoga; and Gentlemen’s Bet, the 2013 Iowa Sprint winner who subsequently finished third in the Vanderbilt and the BC Sprint.
Five-year-old Special Reserve was eligible for a second-level allowance when he was claimed Feb. 6 at Oaklawn, breaking through with a career-best 92 Beyer that day and, so far, maintaining that form. He didn’t quite stay seven furlongs at Keeneland when second to the sharp Flagstaff in the Commonwealth Stakes in April, but Saturday’s six-furlong trip seems ideal. Special Reserve is by Midshipman out of Love Spun, who wasn’t much racehorse herself but descends from a good line of mares bred by Charles Nuckols & Sons and owned by the Russell Reineman Stable. Those connections came up with Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem, who was sold to The Thoroughbred Corp. before the 2002 Triple Crown.
Empire of Gold ended 2020 in strong form, finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and signaled he was back at that level with a third-place finish April 10 in the Count Fleet at Oaklawn, his 2021 debut. Empire of Gold knocked out a solid Oaklawn allowance win but then finished seventh in the Aristides at Churchill and was a distant third June 20 in a Lone Star allowance race, his first two starts without the anti-bleeding medication Lasix.
Lasix is permitted in Saturday’s race, but Empire of Gold is the only one of the nine entrants not scheduled to get a dose.
If the pace pressure proves too taxing for Special Reserve, Mojo Man could be the one to capitalize, but it’s more likely Special Reserve guts out a short-priced win than is run down by an inferior rival.
Saylorville
Trainer Bill Mott has found a sweet spot for the 4-year-old filly Frank’s Rockette in the $100,000 Saylorville Stakes.
Just six older fillies and mares are entered in the six-furlong Saylorville. Five of them have combined for about $850,000 in earnings, while Frank’s Rockette in just 14 starts has a bankroll over $750,000. In those 14 outings Frank’s Rockette has gone 7-5-2, a model of consistency, though the filly, after three starts so far this year, has failed to get back to her peak 3-year-old form.
She’s coming off defeats as the heavy favorite in the Carousel at Oaklawn and the Winning Colors at Churchill, but even at less than her best should have this bunch at her mercy. She and jockey Junior Alvarado are cozily drawn in post 4 and should get a better trip than Frank’s Rockette’s journey in the Winning Colors, where she dueled on a hot pace.
Distaff
The six entrants in the $100,000 Iowa Distaff have combined to make 96 starts, yet no one has won a stakes race. Himiko is the 9-5 morning-line favorite despite making her first start around two turns. It’s that kind of race.
Istan Council raced without Lasix when she finished a distant sixth May 29 in the Shawnee Stakes at Churchill Downs. She’s back on Lasix for this start and turned in several performances before the Shawnee that would make her a winner of this 1 1/16-mile contest.