Statebred sprint stakes featured on holiday card at Canterbury

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – The top statebred 3-year-olds will take center stage at Canterbury Park on Independence Day with two six-furlong stakes on tap.

The $60,000 Frances Genter Stakes for fillies drew a short field of six, with Sky and Sea likely scaring off many challengers. The Rake Farms homebred daughter of Latent Heat has dominated statebred competition in her brief career, winning by an average margin of 13 1/2 lengths in two such starts.

She seized the lead early in both of those races and drew off under light pressure in the lane. Her two open-company efforts were solid as well, finishing clearly second-best in high-level optional-claiming races at Tampa Bay Downs and Canterbury, and her winning Beyer Speed Figures come in almost 20 points ahead of her competition.

Cat Sister, a Bleu Valley Farm homebred, is 2 for 2 in her career, winning her maiden at 2 and most recently closing out May with a front-running triumph in a statebred allowance.

She Can Ski, the 2013 Northern Lights Debutante winner, also will try to derail Sky and Sea.

The $60,000 Victor S. Myers Stakes for males is stocked with early speed.

A P Is Loose, bred and owned by Joel Zamzow, won his maiden last out in his seventh try and did it with aplomb, seizing the lead early and dominating the field of open maidens while earning an 81 Beyer. He returns to statebred company in the Myers and should have plenty of company on the front end.

Slippery Ice tried to take a statebred allowance field gate to wire after breaking his maiden in similar fashion but was caught in the stretch by the older horse Evert. Pennant Fever has virtually the same race pattern this season, while maiden winner Speed Is Life and 2013 Northern Lights Futurity winner Appeal to the King both have featured early speed prominently in their races.

A gelding with the potential to upset the field with his late-running style is You Be Gator Bait. You Be Gator Bait hasn’t won since winning his maiden as a 2-year-old but finished a hard-fought second in the Northern Lights. His 2014 efforts have been solid, trying to come from off the pace in a 5 1/2-furlong statebred allowance and an open, $75,000 optional-claiming turf route, his rally falling just over a length short in both of those races. With an expected hot pace, You Be Gator Bait could be a handful late.