Prairie Meadows Race Results
by Patricia Woo | Jun 28 2010
The highlights of the two-day Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows were the
$250,000 Gr. 3 Iowa Derby and the
$300,000 Gr. 2 Cornhusker Handicap.
In the Iowa Derby, a 1 1/16 mile race for 3-year-olds, six horses vied for the $150,000 winner's purse. Winslow Homer, who was considered a contender for the
Kentucky Derby earlier this year before he was sidelined by injury, was making his first start since winning the $150,000 Gr. 3 Holy Bull Stakes on Jan. 23. Under Ramon Dominguez, Winslow Homer stalked the pace set by the duo of Forestry Type and Junior Alvarado on the inside and then made his move down the backstretch. He stayed in contention as the field entered the second turn but faded soon afterward.
Concord Point, with Martin Garcia aboard, also stalked the pace early and moved up on the backstretch. But he was able to overtake the leaders on the second turn and even pull away, despite being mildly challenged by Thisskyhasnolimit and jockey Shaun Bridgmohan. In his 8 ½ length victory, the Bob Baffert-trained Concord Point smashed the track record at 1 1/16 miles with his winning time of 1:40.37. The Iowa Derby was Concord Point's first graded stakes win, boosting his career record to 5-3-1-0 and $226,760. Following Winslow Homer to the wire were Down With Dixie, Vow to Wager and Forestry Type.
In the 14th running of the Cornhusker Handicap, a 1 1/8 mile race for 3-year-olds and up and the richest race of the Iowa Festival of Racing, 10-1 shot Shadowbdancing was looking to redeem a second-place finish in the 2009 edition of this race. With Eddie Razo, Jr., aboard, Shadowbdancing took a different tack from last year's frontrunning effort; he stalked the pace set by Racing Bran and Christopher Emigh on the outside.
Once the field reached mid-stretch, the 5-year-old son of Montbrook managed to reel in Racing Bran and edge away for a narrow 1 length win. Trained by Terrel Gore, his winning time was 1:48.24. Completing the order of finish were Golden Yank, Mythical Power, King Dan, Red Lead, Going Ballistic, Brass Hat and Slew's Tizzy. With the $180,000 winner's purse, Shadowbdancing's career earnings improve to $622,495; he now has a 10-5-3 record from 24 starts and now has his first career graded stakes win.
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