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Canterbury Flavor In Prairie Meadows Stakes This Weekend

The Prairie Meadows quarter horse meet closes this week with racing Thursday through Saturday.

The Friday card features four stakes races and Saturday’s evening program has nine including the Grade 1 Bank of America Challenge Championship with a $330,000 purse.

Many of the stakes include horses that raced in Shakopee over the summer.  The Grade 3 Two Rivers Stakes on Friday has a pair: Ferrari James and Bye Byefreighttrain. The former has won nine of 18 lifetime starts but was beaten by the latter when they met here in July. Ferrari James turned the tables on Bye Byefreighttrain when they faced off in Iowa in the Grade 3 Keokuk at Prairie. Canterbury’s meet leading Q rider Oscar Delgado has the mount on Ferrari James.

Saturday’s slate includes:

$110,132 Polk County Derby – fastest qualifier Cr Game Changer for trainer Jason Olmstead will be ridden by Brayan Velazquez

$174,400 Jim Bader Futurity – fastest qualifier Cr Lota Girl trained by Jason Olmstead drew post 10.

$145,604 Altoona Derby – second fastest qualifier La Mos Pyc trained by Bill Harris and ridden by Stormy Smith. The 3-year-old won three times at Canterbury including the Gopher State Derby.

$289,830 Valley Junction Futurity – fastest qualifier A Jordon Reed, winner of the $167,600 Mystic Lake Northlands Futurity, trained by Ed Ross Hardy and ridden by Oscar Delgado, has drawn the rail.

$105,000 AQHA Distance Challenge Championship (G1)

$180,000 Adequan Derby (G3) – includes Faster Than Hasta, trained by Bob Johnson. Multiple stakes winning gelding raced at Canterbury this season and last. Kowboy Jim, winner of all three 2017 CBY starts including the Canterbury Park Derby, is trained by Dean Frey with Delgado aboard.

$130,000 John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship (G2) – High Valley Girl made the cut for trainer Bob Johnson.

$105,000 Merial Distaff Challenge Championship (G1) –  Minnesota bred Blacks Cartel won the Cash Caravan Stakes. Jr Rock Star won the Canterbury Distaff Challenge. The 4-year-old filly is trained by Olmstead.

$330,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1) – The Fiscal Cliff was voted Canterbury’s Quarter Horse of the Meet after winning both the Zimmerman Stakes and the BOA Championship Challenge. He is 8 to 1 in the biggest race of the night.

Thursday’s program may not have the stakes sizzle but there are Canterbury horses to be found including Jjsir James who was the fastest qualifier here for the NCQHRA Futurity and suffered a less than perfect trip in the final. He qualified for an Iowa futurity despite a terrible trip and then stumbled from the gate in the final. Thursday he faces a much easier field and is 6 to 1 on the morning line.

Curls Happy Wagon drew the rail in race 7.  While she never raced in Shakopee her dam, Eye a Spit Curl Girl, did. The multiple graded stakes winning mare won the Zimmerman Stakes here in 2015. Curls Happy Wagon dominated in her career debut Sept. 23 at Prairie and could be something special. She is 7 to 2 on the line Thursday.

Racing begins at 6 pm each night at Prairie Meadows.