Cammack finally in good spot

Trainer Chris Block has been trying to find Cammack the right spot for a couple months now and it looks like he’s finally done so in the featured third race Thursday at Arlington.

Cammack is one of seven entrants in a one-mile turf race with multiple high-end allowance conditions and an $80,000 claiming option, and he appears to be the most likely winner.

Cammack is an 8-year-old gelding who has aged well: He earned a career-best 98 Beyer winning an overnight turf stakes just last summer at Arlington. Away from the races during the second part of the winter and all spring, Cammack was rained off turf for his comeback in the Black Tie Affair Handicap in June, and finished third over Polytrack. He was withdrawn from consideration for the Arlington Handicap on July 7, when the race came up too tough. Instead, Cammack went to Indiana Grand for the Warrior Veterans Stakes on July 14, and if drawing post 12 wasn’t impediment enough, the gelding got into plenty of trouble during the race, finishing a close sixth.

Cammack is a six-time winner over the Arlington turf and fits the Thursday feature very snugly, but Zulu Alpha could give him a run. Trainer Neil Howard has freshened Zulu Alpha and will remove blinkers for Thursday’s start, and Zulu Alpha’s high-water mark this season, a third-place finish (at 91-1 odds) in the Grade 2 Muniz at Fair Grounds, might be more even than Cammack is set to handle.

Hay Dakota looks tough

Rain ruined a listed-stakesclass turf allowance race carded for July 13 at Canterbury Park, but they’ll try the thing again Thursday in the featured fifth race.

The July 13 race had to be moved from turf to dirt because of a wet course, leading to scratches of key contenders, but Thursday’s forecast suggests this time the race will stay on grass.

That’s good news for Hay Dakota, who was among the horses withdrawn from the July 13 race because of the surface switch. Hay Dakota, Denny Velazquez riding for trainer Joel Berndt and owner Alice Mettler, came within a half-length of winning the $100,000 Mystic Lake Mile for the second straight season when he last raced, and with any luck he will be difficult to contain in Thursday’s fifth race.

◗ Dona Bruja had a major work for the Beverly D. Stakes on Monday at Keeneland when she drilled seven furlongs in 1:26.40 on dirt.

◗ Karl Broberg and Ramon Vazquez have built big leads in the trainer and jockey standings, respectively, as the Prairie Meadows 2018 meet heads into the final furlong. Broberg through Sunday had 73 wins, 22 more than the next-highest total, while Vazquez had ridden 115 winners, 39 more than David Cabrera’s next-highest total. The Thoroughbred portion of the Prairie Meadows meeting ends Aug. 11.

◗ Done Deal’s winning time in the Iowa Sprint at Prairie Meadows appeared incorrectly in the chart’s official race as 1:10.67 and has been changed to 1:09.04.