Two Emmys using Brooks Fields as springboard; three turf stakes carded
The Brooks Fields, one of three turf stakes Thursday evening at Canterbury Park, offers a five-figure purse for six-figure talent. But it’s not always just about the money. The $50,000 Brooks Fields provides a potentially useful bridge toward higher-level Arlington stakes racing this summer for 5-year-old Two Emmys. Four-year-old Hieronymus, meanwhile, still is trying to find a racing rhythm and his proper level.
Those two are among seven entrants in the one-mile Brooks Fields, carded as race 4, post time 6:12 p.m. Central, the first of a trio of $50,000 grass races on this nine-race twilight program.
Two Emmys shipped late last week from trainer Hugh Robertson’s base at Arlington to Canterbury, where he will start for trainer Mac Robertson, Hugh’s son, in the Brooks Fields. Purchased at auction for just $4,500 and owned by Hugh Robertson and Wolfe Racing, Two Emmys has gone 13-3-5-0 during his career while earning more than $166,000, and his best racing might still be in front of him.
Two Emmys, by English Channel, flashed his ability during the 2019-2020 Fair Grounds season, but his 2020 campaign ended in July and the gelding didn’t resurface until this past winter in New Orleans. There, he was second in a comeback race he needed for fitness, a winner at the second allowance level over the talented horse Darain, a seriously troubled fifth in a third-level turf allowance, and most recently second to Colonel Liam, among North America’s top grass horses, after setting the pace in the March 20 Muniz Memorial.
“He’s doing very well,” Hugh Robertson said. “A mile is a little short for him up there, but I figured it was a good spot and he needs to race. He’s a nice horse.”
Thursday’s start could lead to an appearance in the Arlington Handicap in June and, if Two Emmys proves up to the challenge, in the $600,000 Mister D. Stakes in August. Robertson said Two Emmys would likely be scratched should the Brooks Fields come off turf. Mac Robertson entered the established dirt horse Carlos L., who would be a prime contender on the main track.
Hieronymus, trained by Brad Cox, has scored all four of his wins racing on the lead and figures to go to the front breaking from post 1. After finishing a decent fourth in May 2020 in a loaded renewal of the War Chant Stakes at Churchill, Hieronymus didn’t race again until this past April, when he failed to make the lead and faded to sixth in the $100,000 Danger’s Hour at Aqueduct. The class drop here is meaningful and Hieronymus has posted steady works for the second start of his 4-year-old season.
There are more places to turn in the $50,000 Minnesota HBPA Distaff, the sister race to the Brooks Fields, but Best Kept Secret is the selection, though perhaps at a price lower than her 4-1 morning-line odds. Best Kept Secret enters with strong Oaklawn dirt-allowance form and won a 7 1/2-furlong Canterbury allowance race last season in the only two-turn turf try of her career.
Apple Dapple is a sneaky price play. She was fourth in Best Kept Secret’s turf win last summer but has put up better performances than that over the local lawn and brings an encouraging work pattern into Thursday’s race, her first since she was claimed on Feb. 7 by trainer Chris Richard. Beach Flower and After Red Sun, shorter prices, also merit consideration.
Tin Badge is the pick to upset the $50,000 Honor the Hero, a five-furlong grass dash that’s overloaded with pace players. Six of the 11 entrants show TimeformUS early pace figures between 106 and 125, and even with an awareness of the likely race flow, not everyone will be taking back. Tin Badge makes the third start in his form cycle and has limited exposure in grass racing generally and none at all in short turf sprints like this.
His two short Canterbury turf routes last summer yielded performances sufficient to suggest Tin Badge goes well enough on grass to capitalize on a favorable pace dynamic, and Tin Badge is listed at 15-1 on the track’s morning line. Ray’s Angel and Jazzy Times are two more to consider at fair odds.