Three stakes on card
Just Add Water's weight assignment points him out as the one to beat Saturday in the $20,000 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Handicap at The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan. He is the 123-pound highweight for the six-furlong race, and will carry three more pounds than his closest rivals.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe is one of three stakes on the card. The others are for Quarter Horses, including the Grade 2, $97,464 Kansas Futurity.
Just Add Water will face 11 others Saturday as he attempts to win his first stakes. He is one of the sharpest horses in the field, with 3 wins in his last 4 starts. His most recent score came in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance at Prairie Meadows, in which he was timed in 1:10.20.
One start prior to that Sept. 16 race, Just Add Water was third in a six-furlong optional claiming race at Canterbury that went in a blazing 1:08.80. He has enough speed to be close to the pace throughout. Trainer David McShane has given the mount to David Essman.
A R Crackers is also sharp, with wins in his last two starts, among them the $50,000 Retama Park Turf Breeders' Cup Handicap. He will be moving to dirt and cutting back to one turn Saturday. The last time he sprinted on dirt he was fourth in a stakes in December.
Crazy about Corona favored
Crazy About Corona, who has won 4 of 7 starts, could go favored in the Kansas Futurity. She set the fastest qualifying time for the 350-yard race, when she covered the distance in 17.93 seconds during trials on Sept. 24.
Crazy About Corona won her trial over a handful of the 10 horses in the Futurity, and earlier this year was third in the Grade 2 Remington Park Futurity. Larry Payne has the mount for trainer Kevin Willis.
A Royal Return, who has also won 4 of 7 starts, was third to Crazy About Corona in his trial, a race that was his first start in two months.
Yawls Diva is looking for her fourth straight win Saturday.
* The Grade 3, $50,344 Kansas Derby matches Ice Dreams and Westar Opener, who finished a respective second and third to Corona on Tap in last year's Kansas Futurity.