Another Try

It's been four weeks for Fizzy Pop and we head back into action tomorrow night at Canterbury Park. Fiz'll be going a mile and sixteenth over the turf in another try at the $25,000 Optional Claiming level. We did not enter Fizzy for a tag this time out. You'd think it would be the same cast as characters as last time, but not even close. Here's a look at the field.

1 Chaska - A nice MN bred who was a close up 2nd in last year's Minn Turf Championship. Fizzy beat him by 2 as Fiz was driving on the leader in his 2nd place allowance finish two back. May be a cut below these.

2 Classic Trouble - Fizzy beat him three back in his turf debut at Canterbury, but Classic Trouble finished 3rd in Fiz's last, though they were only separated by less than 2.

3 Joni's Justice - Also in the same allowance race with Fizzy and Chaska and was a well beaten 6th. His last out was a just missed 2nd in the Blair's Cove Stakes, though. Looking sharp and probably the one to beat.

4 Maddies Blues - A ND bred who scored nicely in a $12,500 CL race on the turf, but was drilled last out in a $23,000 allowance. Maybe outclassed here, but the one turf start was a nice one.

5 Esau's Thunder - Not bad recent form winning 2 out of 3 this season, but two tries on the turf were less than impressive.

6 Variance - Scored in a $17,000 allowance last out and earned a nice 78 Beyer. Turf form is also suspect, but is on the improve and has the pedigree for turf.

7 FIZZY POP - knocked at the break last out and couldn't close into an average pace but still finished less than 2.25 off the lead. Much more early speed in this race and his two clean turf races at Canterbury earned 80+ Beyers. We're cautiously optimistic.

8 Suddenly Silver - A lot of early speed and has two scores on the dirt with this type. Led til the end of the Blair's Cove last out. Maybe too much early speed to contend with here.

9 Major Reality - A very interesting lightly raced 3 year old who is three out of four this year including a head score over the turf course in a $17,000 allowance last out. Also full of early speed though and Beyer's seem too light here.

That's the field. We're going to go in tomorrow with the positive attitude of Fiz's last score here. We own the best Beyers in routes over the Canterbury turf course. We've had a solid four weeks of rest and has been working great. There is a lot of early speed in the race for Fizzy to run at and Dean Butler is getting pretty adept at piloting him and his quirks.

Best of luck to all the partners, though I think only Laura and I will be there tomorrow. Mike is on vacation, Jane is in Louisiana and I don't think that Josh will be back from his business trip tomorrow. I don't think anyone will notice though as Laura's family has made it to just about every race and we look like quite the gang in the paddock. Both Benjamin and Forrest are here and I'm hopeful that Garrett will feel well enough to come as well - it'll be great having my wife and all three boys there for the night! Especially if we can get into a photo!!!