Stakes-filled card celebrates Iowa-bred racing

The best of the Iowa breeding industry takes to the track Saturday night at Prairie Meadows on a 12-race program of Iowa-bred racing that includes 11 stakes.

The card, first post 6 p.m. Central, starts with four Quarter Horse races, continues with a Thoroughbred maiden sprint, and wraps up with seven Thoroughbred stakes.

Scrutinizer, the first horse in the first Thoroughbred stakes, the $70,000 Dan Johnson Sprint, is a 7-year-old who has been an Iowa-bred stalwart since his 3-year-old season in 2016. Twice second in the Dan Johnson, named for the late Des Moines Register turf writer, Scrutinizer won this race’s 2019 renewal by nearly two lengths, and he has been in sharp form again this summer for trainer Bill Martin. Scrutinizer won the John Wayne for Iowa-breds on July 4 and blew out a statebred allowance field on July 27 in his last start.

Among his challengers in the six-furlong Dan Johnson is Mr. Lovejoy, who is trained and owned by Don Schnell, the Canadian native who toured the country, from California to New York, in 2018 and 2019 with his crack mare Escape Clause. Schnell got a hold of Mr. Lovejoy late this winter, and the gelding, all speed, has won three straight, all at Prairie Meadows.

Flat Out Speed is the odds-on favorite to win the Iowa Breeders’ Oaks for 3-year-old fillies going a mile and 70 yards, and for good reason. She comes into this race having beaten older Iowa-breds in the Hawkeyes Stakes last out and won the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks earlier this summer. Yet trainer Lynn Chleborad, as much she likes Flat Out Speed, also is high on the chances of 15-1 shot Topless.

Topless ran fifth in the Hawkeyes, beaten seven lengths by Flat Out Speed, and before that fourth in a statebred allowance race.

“I think she’s going to run much better this time,” Chleborad said.

Chleborad had no ready excuse for Kauai’s subpar performance Aug. 29 in the Cyclones Handicap, but expects the gelding to bounce back in the Gov. Terry E. Branstad Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for older horses. Kauai’s two Prairie Meadows starts this season put him in the hunt, though Cyclones winner Minecraft Maniac appears to be a formidable favorite.

There is nothing like a formidable favorite in the Donna Reed, a mile and 70-yard route for older fillies and mares. Mywomanfromtokyo used to be the driving force in this division, but finished fourth as the 3-10 favorite in this race last year and never has recovered her best form. She’s 5-2 on the line, but the Reed could fall any number of directions.

Were the Iowa Breeders’ Derby a sprint race, there might be no beating Mollies Rocket, but the race is run at 1 1/16 miles around two turns, something Mollies Rocket never has done, and his imposing Beyer Speed Figures seem unlikely to translate from sprints to routes. Smart N Intuitive also stretches out for his first two-turn try, but his running style and pedigree seem more suggestive of a horse that will stay the distance.

Ray Ashford, who has had an outstanding Prairie season, trains Smart N Intuitive and also has a chance in the Iowa Cradle, a 2-year-old sprint, with Cantwaittograduate. But the right horse here might be Time Goes On, a Not This Time colt who scored a sharp win in his only start, on Aug. 23.

The Iowa Sorority also has a once-started winner who looks highly competitive in Kela’s Turn. Kela’s Turn cruised to a 7 1/2-length Iowa-bred maiden win Aug. 22 and is well drawn for Saturday’s six-furlong race in post 7. Her chief rivals could prove to be Aprise, who starts for Chleborad, and the Steve Asmussen-trained Bossy Moment.