Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Boyce well armed for stakes
The Illinois-breds, with trainer Michele Boyce at the helm, are invading Minnesota this weekend.
Arlington-based Boyce has key players for three of the four undercard stakes Saturday on the Mystic Lake Derby program at Canterbury Park. Lovely Loyree is the pick to win the $100,000 Lady Canterbury, while Puntsville is back to try to win another $50,000 Hoist Her Flag Stakes and Devileye rates among the top choices in the $50,000 Dark Star Cup.
Lovely Loyree is one of eight fillies and mares in the Lady Canterbury (race 3, 7:11 p.m. Central), a one-mile grass race that kicks off the stakes action Saturday. There are decent horses in the Lady Canterbury, but nothing like what Lovely Loyree faced in two starts this year at Tampa Bay Downs, where she met several of the best turf mares in North America.
Lovely Loyree was rained off a pair of intended Arlington turf races and starts for the first time since February, but she worked five furlongs in 58.60 seconds Monday at Arlington for this start.
“We’ve been letting her lollygag around, but when she knows she needs to work, she’ll work,” Boyce said.
Boyce wonders if Lovely Loyree will have rust while making her first start in more than three months, but the mare has fired fresh before. Lovely Loyree has pace but figures to sit just off the speed Saturday.
“She’s run well from slightly off the pace before. You just can’t fight her,” Boyce said.
I’m Betty G, the likely favorite for trainer Mike Maker, breaks from post 8 and should be on or near the lead. Maker also sends out Susie Bee, who can contend on her best day.
Deep cast in Mystic Lake Mile
Hay Dakota won the $100,000 Mystic Lake Mile at 7-1 last summer. Why not again?
Hay Dakota enters the race off the same pattern (layoff, allowance comeback) that trainer Joel Berndt used to win the 2017 renewal, and there appears to be ample pace to set up his late run. Hay Dakota is 8-1 on Canterbury’s morning line and is worth a bet at something like that price, but there are clearly other directions to go in this 12-horse field.
Swagger Jagger, with Adam Beschizza named to ride for Maker, is the 3-1 morning-line favorite, and while he rates as a contender, that price doesn’t seem especially fair in a field this large. Maker lost Swagger Jagger for a mere $25,000 claiming price last fall, only to reclaim him for $35,000 one race later, and Swagger Jagger rewarded the faith with a narrow win in the $100,000 Turf Classic in his most recent race. But the Turf Classic was restricted to Florida-breds and was run March 25, and Swagger Jagger has no obvious edge on some better-priced horses in the Mile.
Others worth considering at longer odds are Great Wide Open and Patriots Rule.
Puntsville back for another
Puntsville broke on top and never came close to being challenged in winning the 2017 Hoist Her Flag Stakes by more than three lengths. Tactics are certain to be similar Saturday as Puntsville tries for another Hoist Her Flag win. Puntsville drew post 1 and must leave the gate running under Carlos Marquez Jr. – but that is what the mare does.
“She’s a pretty quick filly. It’s hard to outrun her,” Boyce said.
The 6-year-old Puntsville has won nine of 12 starts over the Hoist Her Flag’s six-furlong distance, though she might be even more effective at shorter trips.
“She can put a lot of horses away on the lead, but she doesn’t want to go an inch past six furlongs,” Boyce said.
If Puntsville can break on top and open a lead, she probably wins, but there are several potential pace rivals stacked to her outside. A slight flub at the start, and the likely favorite could be hooked and cooked. Thoughtless, who chased Puntsville home in the 2017 Hoist Her Flag, would be the most likely beneficiary of a pace meltdown.
Malibu Max the Dark Star play
The Boyce-trained Devileye ships out of Illinois for the first time, but if he comes close to the form he showed in winning the Addison Cammack Memorial on June 2 at Arlington, he’ll win the Dark Star Cup.
The Cammack, however, was contested on Arlington’s Polytrack, and while Devileye has gone 4-2-2-0 on dirt, it remains to be seen whether he can run to his best on the surface.
“I guess we’re going to find out,” Boyce said.
Devileye has seven wins and two seconds from nine starts, and his 101 Beyer Speed Figure from the Cammack tops the Dark Star field. But top to bottom, this is a stronger race than the Illinois-bred stakes he’s contested.
Wings Locked Up is the 7-2 second choice on the track’s morning line but probably will be favored, and if the betting goes that way, then Malibu Max could be playable. Malibu Max cut back from routes to win the May 5 Paul Bunyan, a six-furlong Canterbury stakes, by two lengths. He’s since been freshened and might be sitting on something even better.