Tampa: Speedy Cor Cor adds blinkers for Minaret

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Cor Cor, a filly whose game is speed on top of speed, will no doubt be the horse to catch Saturday as the probable favorite in the $50,000 Minaret Stakes for fillies and mares at Tampa Bay Downs.

And while she is plenty fast, Cor Cor, on occasion, does float wide out of the turn, and after she got out a bit more than usual in an allowance sprint on the turf at Keeneland, trainer Joan Scott decided to add blinkers for the six-furlong Minaret.

“She tends to bear out a bit sometimes in the turn and after she did so a bit more than normal in the race at Keeneland we decided to put a bit of an extended cup on the outside,” Scott said. “This should keep her focused and less likely to drift.”

Cor Cor was off from May until her October start after she sustained a bone chip during a race at Presque Isle.

“She had a small bone chip in an upper joint,” Scott said. “Fortunately they were able to remove it in a simple procedure and after a recuperative period, she’s come back great.”

Cor Cor has worked six times for the Minaret and five of those drills have been black letter moves, including a pair of 46-flat half-miles. Apparently she still has her quick turn of foot.

“She’s my little speedball,” Scott said. “She loves to go fast.”

Cor Cor has won 4 of 7 lifetime starts, including three stakes, and was second in the Grade 3 Old Hat Stakes in early 2013 at Gulfstream Park.

Another speedster, Risky Rachel, will get a lot of attention from bettors as she makes her first start in more than a year. A four-time stakes winner against New York-bred competition, Risky Rachel will be making her first start since October 2012. She has been training smartly at Gulfstream Park.

Cookie, who comes into the Minaret having won three of her last four starts, bears consideration. Claimed for $30,000 from a winning maiden score at Ellis Park, Cookies has won 2 of 3 starts for trainer Philip Bauer, who is off to a 3-for-9 in 2014.

Sunny Forest turns back in distance off a strong third-place effort to the talented Wild About Irene going seven furlongs and could be a major factor if the speed fails to hold up. Ambusher, who won a pair of races at Canterbury at the Minaret distance, comes off a short break and is another who will be running late.