November 25, 2024

Delaunay an overwhelming favorite in Iowa Sprint

Last updated: 6/24/13 2:52 PM











Delaunay is presently one of the fastest horses in the country

(Jessie Holmes/EquiSport Photos)

Crack sprinter Delaunay will go for his seventh consecutive stakes victory
Friday night at Prairie Meadows in the $125,000
Iowa Sprint
Handicap
over six furlongs. A prohibitive favorite at 3-5 on the morning
line, Delaunay will tote only 122 pounds against four rivals with Rosie
Napravnik named to ride the six-year-old.

Prairie Meadows is located in suburban Des Moines, the hometown of owner
Maggi Moss, who claimed the Smoke Glacken gelding for $40,000 13 months ago.
Delaunay has since won seven of eight starts for Moss and trainer Tom Amoss
while developing into one of the nation’s premier sprinters. He’s won all three
starts this term by an average of at least four lengths, and captured his first
graded stakes on Kentucky Derby Day when taking the Grade 2 Churchill Downs by
four lengths in the slop.

It’s hard to make a case for any of the others if Delaunay runs true to form
although Gentlemen’s Bet, another Churchill Downs invader, is one of the more
plausible alternatives. The Ron Moquett trainee has won four of five starts,
including a third-level allowance at Churchill by 5 3/4 lengths most recently.
His only loss came in his lone prior stakes appearance in the Count Fleet Sprint
Handicap at Oaklawn, where he finished third.

Jasizzle enters off a neck second in a moderate renewal of the Aristides at
Churchill, while the home defense is led by stakes winner City Sage and the
allowance-class Credit Report.

The Iowa Sprint tops a program that also includes the $100,00

Saylorville
, a six-furlong dash, and the $100,000
Iowa
Distaff
at 1 1/16 miles, both for fillies and mares.

Beat the Blues, coming off a victory in the May 27 Winning Colors at
Churchill after running second in two previous editions of the Grade 3 stakes,
is the 9-5 morning line choice in the Saylorville, a race she captured back in
2011. Also in the mix are Lulu Wong, the 3 3/4-length winner of the May 24
Prairie Rose for Chris Richard, and recent Churchill allowance scorer Livi
Makenzie.

Another Churchill shipper, Flashy American, was made the 8-5 morning line
choice in the Iowa Distaff. The gray Flashy Bull filly enters off a comfortable
optional claiming victory at the Louisville track, where she started for a
$62,500 tag. Also in the lineup are Magic Hour, who makes her first start since
capturing the March 16 Wayward Lass at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Ian Wilkes,
and Lava Girl, runner-up in the May 25 Wild Rose at Prairie Meadows.



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