Thoughtless makes money run in Prairie Rose

It doesn’t take tremendous brainpower to figure out that having access to two circuits rather than one is a benefit in placing horses, and a mare named Thoughtless on Thursday at Prairie Meadows can reap the rewards of that approach by the Robertson family training operation.

Make no mistake: Hugh Robertson and Mac Robertson, father and son, run independent stables at different tracks. Mac races at Oaklawn in the winter, Hugh at Fair Grounds. Mac stables mainly at Canterbury in the summer, Hugh at Arlington. But the Robertsons, without having to run a satellite string under an assistant trainer, can seamlessly send horses from one stable to another, and that has worked out well for Thoughtless.

Thoughtless returned from a layoff of exactly one year with a fourth-place Fair Grounds turf-sprint finish for Hugh on March 26. On May 6, she was at Canterbury, racing for Mac and winning the $50,000 Etoile du Nord Stakes. Now she is back under Hugh’s banner as the most likely winner of the $45,000 Prairie Rose, race 8 (post time 9:12) on Thursday night at Prairie Meadows.

Thoughtless has the outside post in a field of eight that will race over six furlongs. The Etoile du Nord was a similar race to the Prairie Rose, and Thoughtless won it easily as the 6-5 favorite, scoring by 3 1/2 lengths going away. The 5-year-old Rockport Harbor mare, owned by Hugh Robertson and Barry Butzow, has made one previous trip to Prairie Meadows, winning a maiden race two summers ago, and from eight starts at six furlongs she has 3 wins, 4 seconds, and 1 third. It leaves one thinking Thoughtless has a better chance than her 5-2 morning-line price.

If lightly raced horses with potential upside are your bag, consider Big Sister Ridge. She won a sprint and a route last June at Prairie Meadows to start her career, then wasn’t seen racing again until May 6 at Prairie, where she contested the pace and held second in a second-level sprint allowance.

The mare that beat Big Sister Ridge, Donita’s Ruler, also is entered in the Prairie Rose, and looks like a prime rival for Thoughtless. Claimed twice already this year, first for $35,000 and then for $40,000, 6-year-old Donita’s Ruler isn’t quite the filly she was at ages 4 and 5, but she appears to be going well enough for trainer Karl Broberg right now to merit consideration.

Though the thought remains Thoughtless will take her measure.