Six 2009 Illinois champions are prominent among the 64
horses (including one double-entered horse) who passed the entry box for the
six $100,000-added stakes races that comprise the 11th annual
Prairie State Festival to be held Saturday, June 19, at Arlington
Park.
The six races that make up the showcase for state-breds
are:
The Black Tie Affair Handicap for 3-year-olds & upward at a
mile and a sixteenth on the turf
The Isaac Murphy Handicap for fillies & mares, 3-year-olds
& upward at six furlongs on Polytrack
The Lincoln Heritage
Handicap for fillies & mares 3-year-olds & upward at a mile and a
sixteenth on the turf
The Purple Violet Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on
Polytrack
The White Oak Handicap for 3-year-olds & upward at six
furlongs on Polytrack
The Springfield Stakes for
3-year-olds at one mile on Polytrack
Up first this year is the Black Tie Affair Handicap which
is most notable for who isn’t in the race – four-time winner Team Block’s Fort
Prado,
who was retired at the end of last season. However, Fort
Prado’s
connections are well represented by Free Fighter, owned by Team Block in
partnership with Thomas Fedro Sr., and Unpaid Crusade, owned outright by Team
Block.
Both trained by Chris Block, leading trainer in Prairie
State Festival competition with 15 victories, Free Fighter comes in off a
winning effort in the Grade III Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs on May
22 while Unpaid Crusade steps up to stakes company for the first time here.
Others of note in the Black Tie Affair include Nick Mamatas
& John Kerber’s Gentleman Chester, runner-up in this race last year and
later graded stakes placed in the Grade III Arlington Handicap over this
course; and Barr Three LLC & Cherrywood Racing Stable’s Princeville Condo,
runner-up in the Illinois Owners Stakes here last month.
Defending champion Nicks, who races in the colors of Carson
Springs Farm, Arbaway Farm & Ken Meeker, looks to be the horse to beat in
the Isaac Murphy Handicap. The Christine Janks-trained daughter of Salt
Lake
won the $100,000 Governor’s Lady Handicap on Illinois Champions Day at
Hawthorne Race Course in April and followed that with a second-place finish in
the open Prairie Rose Stakes at Prairie Meadows on May 22.
Also prominent in the Isaac Murphy are John Carman’s Ripe
Tomato, winner of last autumn’s $100,000 Powerless Handicap at Hawthorne; and
the cross-entered Secret Kin, recently claimed by owner-trainer Mike Stidham.
An overflow field of 14 has been entered in the Lincoln
Heritage Handicap including last year’s Illinois Female Turf Champion Two Bucks
To Show’s Cumulonimble, who drew the far outside stall. The Wayne
Catalano-trained Stormy Atlantic filly was third in the $100,000 Illinois
Owners Stakes on May 15 in her most recent start on Polytrack but is a perfect
two-for-two on the Arlington
turf.
Among those she’ll face Saturday are stakes winners Timothy
Keeley’s Peyote Patty; the cross-entered Secret Kin; Virginia Tarra Trust’s
Apple Martini; Bob Ackerman et. al.’s Souper Miss; and Nancy Vanier’s Home the
Best.
Slapshot Racing’s Sweet Lemon Chello makes her second start
as a sophomore in the Purple Violet Stakes after earning champion 2-year-old
filly honors last year. The Lisa Merritt-trained daughter of Lemon Drop
Kid will face 11 rivals including stakes winners Hoss-Bone Racing’s Thats
Whatshesaid; and Jake Sidoti’s Rusty Spinner.
Scarlet Stable’s Mighty Rule, last year’s Illinois Champion
Sprint Male, is the 120-pound co-highweight in the White Oak Handicap. The
Roger Brueggemann-trained son of Gilded Time was runner-up in this race last
year but has not started since capturing the $100,000 Lightning Jet Handicap at
Hawthorne
last October.
Other of note in the White Oak include defending champion Dana
Waier’s River Bear; the co-highweighted Team Block’s Shrewd Operator; Team
Block’s Amazing Results, 2008 Illinois Champion 3-Year-Old Colt; and S. D.
Brilie Ltd.’s High Expectations, 2008 Illinois Champion Older Male and Illinois
Champion Sprint Male.
Completing the day’s sextet of stakes in the Springfield
Stakes which features Dana Waier’s Devient Behavior, Illinois Champion
2-Year-Old Colt from last year, where he’ll face among others S. D. Brilie
Ltd.’s Big Looie, who won of the $100,000 Land
of Lincoln Stakes
in April at Hawthorne.