Trio of turf stakes at mercy of weather

Three $50,000 stakes races headline the Wednesday card at Canterbury Park. That’s great, but who’s actually running in them, and on which surface they’ll be run, was difficult to ascertain Monday.

All three stakes are carded for turf: the Minnesota HBPA Distaff for fillies and mares at one mile, the Brooks Fields for 3-year-olds and up at one mile, and the Honor the Hero, for 3-year-olds and up at five furlongs. Mother Nature may have something to say about that. Up to three-quarters of an inch of rain could fall Wednesday in Shakopee, Minn., where Canterbury is located.

Also uncertain is the participation of some key entrants. Bizzee Channel would absolutely be the horse to beat in the Brooks Fields, which drew a solid field of 10. But trainer Larry Rivelli said in a text message he was uncertain if Bizzee Channel would start.

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Bizzee Channel, second in the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby during the summer of 2019 in his only Canterbury start, won a stakes-class $138,600 allowance race on April 10 at Keeneland. He was seventh, beaten more than 18 lengths, in his most recent start, but that came in the Grade 1 Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard, where Bizzee Channel raced without Lasix. Bizzee Channel’s other two non-Lasix starts produced two eighth-place finishes in Grade 3 stakes.

Chicago-based Jareth Loveberry is named on Bizzee Channel, but Loveberry said plans called for him to ride two horses at Presque Isle Downs on Wednesday for Rivelli. Rivelli also has a main-track-only entrant for the Brooks Fields in Buck Moon, who’d be a major player if the race is rained onto dirt. Loveberry also is named on him.

There’s a ton of pace entered in the Brooks Fields. Bizzee Channel, should he start, prefers a forward placement, while Tiger Dad, Bodenheimer, My Indy, Tut’s Revenge, and Drama Chorus all like to lead or press. Drama Chorus, who has a 7-4-2-0 record on the Canterbury turf, might have the best current form, coming off a win in the $110,000 Turf Classic, a Florida-bred nine-furlong grass race at Tampa Bay. If the pace falls apart, Sonny Smack could post an upset.

On to the Honor the Hero, which drew two entrants from trainer Bonnie Lucas. Shekky Shebaz, apparently, is entered for turf, and Greeley and Ben for the main track only.

Lucas was elevated from assistant to head trainer when her boss, Wayne Potts, began serving a 75-day suspension that runs through June 25.

Greeley and Ben would be especially formidable in the event of a rain-off. Only one horse in North America won more races during 2021 than Greeley and Ben’s 11 victories. Ten of those wins came for owner-trainer Karl Broberg, who claimed Greeley and Ben for a mere $12,500 March 7.

Greeley and Ben started his 2022 campaign with wins in two $75,000 stakes and in a starter-allowance race, then finished a competitive third in the Grade 3 Whitmore Stakes at Oaklawn, after which Broberg ran him for a $62,500 tag at Oaklawn Park. Broberg lost the horse, who was claimed by Lucas and Thaddeus Wier Jr., but was a big winner overall. Combining purses and the claiming price, he grossed about $512,000 on Greeley and Ben.

Chess Master is the 2-1 Honor the Hero morning-line favorite, but the 100 Beyer Speed Figure he earned winning the Feb. 19 Turf Dash at Tampa Bay is looking like a radical outlier. Jazzy Times, who was eighth in the Turf Dash, was claimed for just $16,000 out of his most recent start, a 4 3/4-length victory in in a turf sprint at Tampa. Jazzy Times, who is entered in the Honor the Hero, finished second in the 2021 edition of the race, which was rained off turf, and came back to win the $100,000 Dark Star Stakes, a Canterbury turf sprint.

Eight were entered in the Minnesota HBPA Distaff, including the venerable Beach Flower, set to make her 56th start. Nine-year-old Beach Flower will be making her fifth appearance in the HBPA Distaff, and her record in the race belies her odds of 8-1 on the morning line.

In 2017, Beach Flower won the HBPA Distaff when it was rained off turf; in 2018, she was second by a head on turf; in 2019, she won the race when it stayed on turf; and last summer, she was second, beaten a head, in another off-turf renewal. Mac Robertson trains Beach Flower, and going back to the closing days of the 2021 season, Robertson is on a 16-9-3-2 run at Canterbury.

The stakes are carded as races 5-7. First post is 5:10 p.m. Central. By then, we’ll have a better idea of who’s racing.