Vying Ty Grr back against fillies

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Local 2-year-old fillies get their first chance at earning stakes credentials in the $50,000 Boulevard Casino at Hastings on Saturday. The six-furlong feature drew 11 horses. Otero will need a scratch in order to run.

Vying Ty Grr, trained by Barb Heads, should be favored off her debut win over a couple of highly regarded colts and geldings on June 28. With Richard Hamel aboard, Vying Ty Grr set quick fractions under pressure and then showed great determination to hold off Cherokee Notion by a neck in the six-furlong maiden special weight race. Heads was pleased with the way Vying Ty Grr progressed in the days leading up to her first start.

"I wanted to run her three furlongs but she wouldn't break out of the starting gate," said Heads. "A couple of days before her race, she came out of there like a rocket."

Heads would have preferred more than two weeks between races for Vying Ty Grr.

"That was a really hard race for her," said Heads. "She's a tough filly, though, and she seems to have come out of it just fine. The best thing about her is her great attitude."

Hamel retains the mount.

Trainer Steve Henson has won with 5 of his last 12 first-time starters, and it appears he has Sweet N Sour primed for a big effort in her debut. Henson sent Sweet N Sour out for a bullet five-furlong move in 1:00 on July 1 with Frank Fuentes in the irons. Sweet N Sour is also bred to win early. She is a half-sister to Avenging Kat, who won her debut at 2 and then came right back to win the $100,000 Sadie Diamond Futurity. Henson's assistant, Larry Grieve, thinks Sweet N Sour has a bright future.

"She has some talent," said Grieve. "She worked a minute and she did it very easily. I would like her a lot more if she had one race behind her, though."

Fuentes rides Sweet N Sour.

La Noria broke poorly when she debuted in the same race as Vying Ty Grr, and according to her trainer, Juan Olmos, she should improve with blinkers being added.

Other than Vying Ty Grr, Therussianrocket is the only other winner in the field. She scored an easy 3 1/2-length win over Magic Thunder in her second start, on June 19. She is trained by Tak Inouye and will be ridden by Garry Cruise.

Saturday's race is named after one of the casinos owned by Great Canadian Gaming Corp., the parent company of Hastings.