Tracy in strong position to sweep Chariot Chaser, Wild Rose

Leading trainer Greg Tracy has an excellent chance of winning both stakes at Northlands Park on Friday night.

Ruffenuff stands out in the $50,000 Chariot Chaser for 3-year-old fillies. Take your pick between Onestaratatime and Classyshadesofgrey in the $50,000 Wild Rose Handicap for fillies and mares. Both races are six furlongs.

It isn’t a matter of whether Ruffenuff will win the Chariot Chaser in race 3 but by how wide a margin. In three starts at Northlands, all stakes, her smallest margin of victory was 6 3/4 lengths when she made her debut in the $50,000 Princess Margaret last year. She won the $48,000 Bird of Pay by 12 1/4 lengths and finished first by 10 1/4 lengths in the $48,000 Freedom of the City.

She had her purse money taken away in the Freedom of the City when she tested positive for dantrolene, a drug used to prevent horses from tying up. Tracy said she doesn’t tie up and he doesn’t treat her for it, so he doesn’t know how the dantrolene got into her system. He was fined $1,500.

Ruffenuff has started twice this year and still hasn’t finished behind a horse. She received a career-best 75 Beyer Speed Figure when she won a non-winners-of-three allowance at Turf Paradise on March 26. She came back with a harder-than-expected win in an open allowance at Hastings on April 23, edging Morning Blurs by a neck in the six-furlong dash for 3-year-old fillies.

“It turned out she was fighting a virus,” said Tracy. “She’s doing great now though, and she obviously loves this track.”

Ruffenuff will break from the outside post in the six-horse field, with Quincy Welch riding.

Misty Do It has the second-best Beyer (57) in the field and has been training forwardly for trainer Tim Rycroft, who is on fire at the meet with 47 percent of his starters winning.

She drew the rail, with Dane Nelson aboard.

Onestaratatime will be making her first start of the year in the Wild Rose. She dominated the 3-year-old filly division at Northlands last year, winning four straight stakes by a combined 30 1/4 lengths.

Tracy seems to prefer Classyshadesofgrey though. An allowance winner at Woodbine in 2016, she was an easy winner going 3 1/2 furlongs in an optional $35,000 claiming race at Northlands on May 6.

Acting on behalf of C & H Duggan and Shot In The Dark Stable, Tracy claimed the Ontario-bred Classyshadesofgrey for $16,000 at Woodbine on Nov. 4. “Onestaratatime is doing great, and she can sprint, but she is a much better horse going long,” said Tracy. “Classyshadesofgrey was good enough to win an allowance race at Woodbine, and right now, there are no issues with her. They both should run well.”

Classyshadesofgrey will break from post 3, with Welch riding. Onestaratatime is next to her in post 4, with Rico Walcott aboard.

Blameitontheknight figures to move forward and certainly will appreciate the added distance after finishing fourth to Classyshadesofgrey in her first start this year. Trained by Dale Saunders, Blameitontheknight has won 10 of 22 starts for earnings of $200,822. Three of her wins came in stakes, and she has won half of her starts at the distance.