Photo:

Eclipse Sportswire – edited

Book’em Danno and My Boy Prince are among the 3-year-olds
who will be in the spotlight across a pair of Keeneland sprints and a Woodbine
sequel to Canada’s Triple Crown. The weekend menu also includes a Kentucky test
for turf stayers including two millionaires.

In addition to those four graded races, there are four other
stakes this week that offer better-than-usual purses in Oklahoma, Florida and
New Mexico, luring the likes of well-traveled Silver Prospector.

The first of these eight featured races is Friday night in
Oklahoma City.

Friday

Oklahoma Classics Cup, Remington Park, 1 1/16 miles,
state-bred 3-year-olds and up

Flat Hanby had a five-race winning streak snapped two weeks
ago when he finished a distant fifth in the Oklahoma Derby (G3). After that
class jump, the 3-year-old Flat Out gelding drops back into state-bred company
where he is 3-for-3 in 2024. This $175,000 feature anchors an Oklahoma Classics
night card that includes 10 races for state-bred horses and $1.12 million in
added purse money.

Saturday

Raven Run (G2), Keeneland, 7 furlongs, 3-year-old fillies

Emery returns to the scene of the allowance victory that
christened her 2024 season. Stakes victories followed in the Leslie’s Lady
Overnight at Churchill Downs and the Victory Ride (G3) at Aqueduct. In her most
recent start Aug. 3 she led the Test (G1) before settling for a runner-up
finish. My Mane Squeeze was third that day at Saratoga. After that she came in
second in the Charles Town Oaks (G2) before her five-length triumph last month
in the Dogwood (G3) at Churchill.

Perryville (G3), Keeneland, 7 furlongs, 3-year-olds

His 5: 3-1-1 record does not do justice to the year Book’em
Danno has had. It started with a 12 1/2-length runaway in the Pasco at Tampa
Bay Downs. Then the Bucchero gelding trained by Derek Ryan finished second in
the Saudi Derby (G3). That he lost by only a head looks even better considering
it was Forever Young, a prime contender to take the Breeders’ Cup Classic, who won
that race. Book’em Danno then won the Woody Stephens (G1) and Jersey Shore
before his third-place finish Aug. 24 in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at
Saratoga. Coming off Todd Pletcher’s bench, Locked returns to the scene of his
2023 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) triumph. The Gun Runner colt makes his first start
since he rallied for a third-place result nearly a year ago in the Breeders’
Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.

Ontario Derby (G3), Woodbine, 1 1/8 miles, synthetic, 3-year-olds

My Boy Prince was on a three-race winning streak built on
black-type stakes. That was before the King’s Plate, where he placed a narrow
second as the 3-5 favorite. Then he jumped into deep water against older horses
last month, finishing sixth in the Woodbine Mile (G1). The Cairo Prince colt
trained by four-time Ontario Derby winner Mark Casse won his only other
nine-furlong start. That Plate Trial victory July 20 was his most recent of six
wins at Woodbine.

COMPILE

Affirmed, Gulfstream Park, 7 furlongs, state-sired 2-year-old
colts and geldings

DRAWN SAT 12TH

Susan’s Girl, Gulfstream Park, 7 furlongs, state-sired 2-year-old
fillies

DRAWN SAT 12TH

Downs at Albuquerque Handicap, Albuquerque, 1 1/8 miles,
3-year-olds and up

Three-time graded-stakes winner Silver Prospector has turned
a $190,000 investment by owners Ed and Susie Orr into $1,654,791 in career
earnings. The 7-year-old entire trained by Steve Asmussen adds a 12th track to
his barnstorming record this week. Coming off two allowance victories last
month at Remington Park, Silver Prospector carries the top weight of 124 pounds
into this $200,000 race that could bring him his first stakes win since the
2022 Steve Sexton Mile (G3) at Lone Star.

DRAWN SAT 12TH

Sunday

Dowager (G3), Keeneland, 1 1/2 miles, turf, fillies and
mares, 3-year-olds and up

Neecie Marie made a strong move in the stretch to win last
month’s $1.3 million Ladies Marathon covering 1 5/16 miles at Kentucky Downs.
The 4-year-old Cross Traffic filly stretches from that career-long effort when
she tries for her third graded-stakes triumph this year. Fellow millionaire
Chop Chop looks to win for the first time since the April 26 Bewitch (G3) over
the same course and distance as this weekend’s race. The 4-year-old City of
Light filly finished a flat fifth last month in the Ladies Marathon (G3). Five-year-old
Let’sbefrankbaby, a Group 3 winner at this distance in her native Australia,
moves to the Northern Hemisphere to make her first start for trainer Mark
Casse.

DRAWN SUN 13TH