Canterbury Park Race 6
Remember when I said if a race gets cancelled, I would go with another race? Well, the eighth race at Belmont at the Big A is essentially cancelled as the race went off the turf and only two of the nine fillies and mares were scheduled to run. I, in good conscience, cannot take a win here if the horse wins (as to when I decided to write a new article early on Thursday) in a match race where there is an unfair advantage as severe as this with a “main track only” horse that is better suited for the dirt against a horse bred for and only has run on the turf.
So, we detour out of New York for the day and head for an evening race at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota. You’ll hear the booming voice of Paul Allen who is also the radio play-by-play announcer of the Minnesota Vikings. He will call our new featured race, which will be race 6, an optional claimer going six furlongs on the main track.
Note that I did pick a race on the main track for today’s bonus race. They too have rain in the forecast and might have their turf races moved to the main track. As a result, we went to this race for the QPW.
Favored in this field of eight fillies and mares is the 1 Savona (5/2 morning line) who is second race off of a layoff after making his 2024 debut at Turf Paradise in their closing week. She is a pure go for the front mare who was outfinished in Phoenix. She got acclimated to a new trainer and back to her Canterbury stomping grounds.
Savona is going to have company on the front end. The 2 Scream Machine (6/1 ML) may go for the lead. She broke here maiden in November at Delaware Park where she was on the front end, fell two lengths back then drew off to win by three. Was part of the time off an opportunity for the three-year-old to grow up some and also learn to rate off of horses?
The 4 Always Smiling (7/2 ML) went for the lead at Canterbury at the beginning of the month and won easily. But you could argue she can rate as she like she did at Oaklawn in April and then earlier in her career at Del Mar.
The 8 Wings From Above (8/1 ML) might be the fastest in this field and was consistently the fastest out of the gate. She didn’t get as good of a start last time out did not factor in the race at the end. She could be on the outside ready to pounce if she cannot get over from the outside post here.
With all this potential speed, I’m looking to see who could close tonight. The 3 Hotasapistol (9/2 ML) has shown the ability to close having done so last September at Canterbury, and could be doing that again today. She didn’t do much at Fonner Park which was a two-turn six-furlong race and did show some improvement last out at the end of May at Canterbury.
The 5 Shy Shy (6/1 ML) will get major class relief after her 2024 debut against much tougher on closing weekend at Oaklawn Park. She has run well in her two dirt races and won from off the pace on the turf last September at Canterbury. She could be a dangerous filly here.
There is a potential of a meltdown here as these fillies and mares will be gunning for the lead, If this happens, it’s going to be Paul Allen screaming into the mic as the 3 Hotasapistol and the 5 Shy Shy who will be left standing in the end. I think Shy Shy will bounce back from a race where obviously her connections put her in a race that she wasn’t ready overclassed in just to get a race in at Oaklawn Park. She will be here today. I’ll tall this 5-3-8-1 and my play is $20 to win on the 5. Good luck everyone, and hopefully we will be back on the east coast for a Friday QPW!
Check out my show “Also Eligible” on Saturday mornings at 10 am Eastern/7 am Pacific as AJ Johnson and I discuss the big races of the weekend, the latest news in horse racing and much more!