The tradition of high-class racing continues in the Midwest despite the closing of long-time stalwarts like Arlington Park and Ak-Sar-Ben. One of the remaining highpoints in the region arrives this weekend: the Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows. The two-day festival of stakes July 10-11 culminates Saturday night with the $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap (G3), the lone graded stakes contested in Iowa.
The race, which dates to 1966 at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, includes several notables among past winners; Star de Naskra, Gate Dancer, Black Tie Affair and Fort Larned.
The latest edition attracted a field of nine with Navajo Warrior the 5-2 favorite. The 5-year-old gelding trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. is fresh from his first stakes victory, a front-running score in the Pimlico Special (G3).
Speed is Navajo Warrior’s game. He is most effective on or close to the lead. The track configuration here helps even though he drew post 8. In a 1 1/8-mile race at Prairie Meadows, the field has a long run in front of the grandstand before hitting the first turn. That should give jockey Micah Husbands time to find a prominent early spot.
San Siro (5-1) was third in the Pimlico Special and could be the main competition. He has finished in the show spot in three consecutive Grade 3 races at three different tracks: the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park, the Ben Ali at Keeneland and the Pimlico Special contested this year at Laurel.
Perhaps the fourth time is charm, where he finally breaks through for trainer Brendan Walsh.
Cornishman (9-2) is back to defend his Cornhusker title. He bested Heroic Move (4-1) by a hard-fought neck in last year’s renewal. He is fresh from a win in the local prep, the Jim and Sandra Rasmussen Stakes and holds the home field advantage over the invaders seeking the meet’s richest prize.
This being a handicap event, Heroic Move was assigned high weight of 122 pounds following his victory in the Steve Sexton Mile (G3) at Lone Star Park where he spotted the field 11 lengths before rallying to prevail by 1 ½ lengths.
The most interesting jockey move is “Big Money” Mike Smith coming to town to ride Gigante (8-1) for trainer Steve Asmussen, replacing Asmussen’s son Erik in the saddle. It’s hard to get a good line on Gigante as the horse has made 30 of his 36 career starts on the turf.
Post time for the Cornhusker Handicap is 10:24 p.m. ET.
Also on the card is the $250,000 Iowa Derby, with Bob Baffert-trained Desert Gate the 9-5 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds. A pair of Preakness Stakes (G1) also-rans, The Hell We Did and Crupper are also entered.
So, we come to the time to make our selections out in the prairie.
1 Bullard (Kizushi Kimura, Michael McCarthy), 6-1
2 Render Judgment (Emmanuel Esquivel, Kenny McPeek), 12-1
3 Heroic Move (Ramon Vazquez, Robertino Diodoro), 4-1
4 Cornishman (Elvin Gonzalez, Dan McFarlane), 9-2
5 San Siro (Florent Geroux, Brendan Walsh), 5-1
6 Gigante (Mike Smith, Steve Asmussen), 8-1
7 Spellmaker (Reynier Arrieta, Heather Irion), 20-1
8 Navajo Warrior (Micah Husbands, Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 5-2
9 Spenard (Israel Hernandez, Dan McFarlane), 12-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
