Tabby Goes for Third Win of Meet

Tabby Lane is going to go for her third win of the 2011 Canterbury Park meet and her 5^th win of the season in Saturday’s second race.  The race is a $7500 Starter Allowance for horses that have started for a claiming price of $7500 or less in 2010- 11 OR a claiming tag of $10,000.  They’ll be going one mile over the turf course.  The field size is seven and, in a unique twist, Tabby is the 3-1 morning line favorite slightly lower than the 7/2 on the front running So Divine.  Last time these two locked horns So Divine ended up with company on the front end as she burned through serious fractions of :22.4 and :46.4 enabling Tabby to come from off the pace for the 2 ½ length victory.

Here is the field:

1 – TABBY LANE (RHONE/BUTLER)

2 – So Divine (Rarick/Bell) – Loose on the front end, this filly dashed off two wins in a row after coming north from Turf Paradise.  She locked horns with Jody’s Included last out, though, and while she burned through quick fractions, Tabby was able to close on and pass her in the lane.  She hung on stubbornly for 2^nd and proved what a gutsy, quality filly she is.

3 – I’ve Heard Rumors (Becker/Goodwin) – She has one start on the Canterbury turf and that was a 3^rd place finish 4 ½ lengths behind Monslewn in a $16,000 Allowance.  Monslewn owned Tabby a few starts back and while I’ve Heard Rumors may not have been able to win against $5,000 claimers in Des Moines or Arlington, it’s important to respect that finish.

4 – Afleetmovinangel (Jansen/Eikleberry) – She had a dominating win against $5,000 claimers here last time out, but that was at six furlongs and over the main track.  Her most recent turf try was at 7 ½ furlongs and where she finished behind I’ve Heard Rumors in that $16,000 allowance referenced above.

5 – Neverrguwithrichie (Becker/Dugas) – The second Becker filly in the race, she was a $5,000 claim two starts back but finished nearly 10 lengths out in an Arlington $7500 starter.  A starter here would appear to be a bit easier and her front running style makes her a threat to So Divine on the lead.

6 – Frontier Franny (Rhone/Escobar) – The second Rhone horse in the race, Franny had been running consistently at the $16,000 level over the turf over the past year or so but only has one win to show for it.  She has some back class and if she runs back to form could give the rest all they can handle.

7 – Jody’s Included (Van Winkle/Rivera) – The speedster that we have to thank for Tabby’s last win just ran last week in a $7500 claiming race where she led to the stretch and then faded.  It’s hard to believe that she’ll improve with her third tough race in four weeks, but I’m hoping that she gets out of the gate quickly and keeps the leaders to task up front.

This is Tabby’s race to lose. I hate writing that at all but I would be disingenuous if I wrote otherwise and that’s something I’ve tried to never been on this blog.  I’ve said in the past how we could win or lose a race and I can’t stop now even if I think that our girl has a better chance to win than I’ve seen before.  Of course in my head all I can think about is the thousands of ways she can lose it!  I will try and block that out, though, and stay positive.

It looks like between Jody, Divine and ‘richie there should be plenty of pace to run at while Tabby appears to be running better recently than the other closers in the group.  I wrote last time that I thought there was a good chance that So Divine would be loose on an early lead but it didn’t stack up that way.  I could easily be just as wrong here – but I hope not.