Three turf stakes share top billing

The logical order of things would have the best fields racing for the biggest purses, but that’s not what’s happened Saturday at Canterbury Park, where the $100,000 Mystic Lake Turf Express is shorter and softer than two $50,000 races on the card, the Brooks Fields and the Minnesota H.B.P.A. Distaff.

The three turf stakes – which could be run over going less than firm if the local forecast holds – are carded as the second, third, and fourth races on an evening program with first post set for 6:05 Central.

The Mystic Lake Turf Express over five furlongs drew nine entrants including Malibu Max, who runs only if the race is rained onto dirt. Creative Art is part of the field’s main body but he, too, is a dirt horse with no established turf form that suggests he can win the Turf Express.

Jockamo’s Song is listed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite despite coming out of a mere first-level allowance win turf sprinting at Arlington. Jockamo’s Song, a 6-year-old trained by Mike Stidham, qualified for that condition since his first eight wins came in Louisiana-bred competition. In the sort of group one might expect for a six-figure purse, Jockamo’s Song might be up against it. Here, he’s a legitimate favorite. The one horse who recently has run fast enough to beat Jockamo’s Song, Bushrod, is a regression candidate following a career-best performance Aug. 12 in an Arlington Polytrack start.

The Brooks Fields over one mile is the best race among the three, with its 10 entrants including four of the first five home in the June 23 Mystic Lake Mile at Canterbury. My Bariley rallied to win the Mystic Lake Mile by a half-length over Hay Dakota as Majestic Pride held on for a well-beaten third. Ibaka, another Brooks Fields entrant, set the Mystic Lake Mile pace before fading to fifth.

My Bariley, based at Arlington with trainer Tony Granitz, returned to finish a mild fifth in the $100,000 Warrior Veterans on July 14 at Indiana Grand, failing to deliver the same kind of late punch that had won him the Mystic Lake Mile.

Hay Dakota finished third by less than one length in an Aug. 2 allowance race at Canterbury, a start that likely was a stepping-stone to Saturday’s more lucrative purse.

Patriots Rule could only finish seventh in the Mystic Lake Mile, but was compromised by a wide draw and an outside trip that start and was a 5-1 winner of the 2017 Brooks Fields. His trainer, Robertino Diodoro, leads the standings at the Canterbury meet.

Nun the Less, claimed for $40,000 in June, was left too much to do finishing a rallying eighth in the Warrior Veterans and has run well in all three of his Canterbury turf starts, including victory in the 2015 Mystic Lake Derby.

One-dimensional Stallion Heiress is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the H.B.P.A. Distaff, another one-mile grass race. Sold privately and turned over to trainer John Ortiz since her most recent start in June at Monmouth Park, Stallion Heiress has done all her best work on the lead in two-turn grass races. She was a solid enough third in the Plenty of Grace Stakes earlier this year at Aqueduct, but has done little else to suggest she has much improved over her earliest performances.

Beach Flower appears to be a better horse on dirt than turf but might still be the leading candidate to capture the Distaff if the front-running favorite falters.