Storm Advisory seeks rebound in Paul Bunyan Stakes

High-end claims can make you or break you. The $62,500 that owner River Ridge Ranch and trainer Robertino Diodoro paid to claim Storm Advisory last June is looking like money well spent.

Storm Advisory got caught in a fast pace and probably went over the top anyway when he finished seventh in his most recent race, the $125,000 Hot Springs on March 11 at Oaklawn Park. But a rebound close to his previous form will land Storm Advisory a win Saturday at Canterbury Park in the $50,000 Paul Bunyan Stakes.

The Paul Bunyan, a 5 1/2-furlong dirt race that goes as the fifth race on the card, drew a field of eight, with Storm Advisory comfortably drawn on the far outside. His morning-line price is 2-1, but Storm Advisory, if he is at all live, should go postward considerably lower.

Storm Advisory won two allowance races and was second in the $75,000 Zia Park Sprint last year, earning purses that just about covered the claim price, and he moved from the “decent claim” to the “good claim” column when he captured the $125,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn while making his first start of 2017.

There could be more to come. Storm Advisory chased demanding fractions in the Hot Springs and even in the best-case scenario would have had no shot at the victorious Whitmore, among the country’s top sprinters. He was beaten 15 lengths but rebounded nicely from a similar performance last fall following a freshening.

Diodoro has a second starter in the Paul Bunyan, Helooksthepart, who also can’t be ruled out while making his second start following a $40,000 claim.

Wings Locked Up, speed on the rail, also rates a solid chance and has proven effective at this distance.

◗ Going earlier on the card as race 2 is the Paul Bunyan’s sister race, the $50,000 Etoile du Nord, which has the same conditions as the Paul Bunyan but is for females.

Diodoro has the 8-5 morning-line favorite, D R C’s Pretty Sky, who gets some class relief after racing in higher-class stakes through the winter. D R C’s Pretty Sky has one start over the Canterbury main track, and it was not all that encouraging – a third-place finish in an allowance last summer at odds of 4-5.

Thoughtless could win this at a decent price for trainer Mac Robertson. Thoughtless is 1 for 1 at Canterbury and returned from a layoff of just more than a year with an encouraging turf-allowance try at Fair Grounds.