BY BROCK SHERIDAN

MJM Racing’s Best Friend and Tim Hoese’s Stunning Sapphire are among eight 2-year-old fillies entered for the $100,000 Prairie Gold Lassie at Prairie Meadows Friday night. Best Friend has been labeled the second choice on the morning line at 7-2 while Stunning Sapphire is 15-1 in the program in the five-and-a-half-furlong affair.

Best Friend ships to Prairie Meadows from Churchill Downs where in one start she was third, just a neck shy of winner Smell the Lilies in a five-and-a-half-furlong maiden special weight on June 11.

Best Friend should improve off that effort as she was a bit slow getting underway with one horse beat in the first 50 yards. She steadily advanced around the turn to get within striking distance turning for home and continued to close in on the leaders despite lugging in throughout the stretch. She made up two lengths in the final sixteenth to just miss at the wire.

 

Trainer Ken McPeek has worked Best Friend one time since, sending her four furlongs in :48.60 at Churchill Downs on June 28, the 33rd fastest breeze of 139 that morning.

Best Friend is by Girvin out of the stakes-winning More Than Ready mare Mexican Miss and earned $7,500 in her lone start. She is a full-sister to allowance-winning Florida-bred U Glow Girl, an earner of $104,710. 

She was purchased by McPeek as an agent for $95,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale where she was consigned by St George Sales. She was bred in Florida by Brad and Misty Grady.  

Best Friend will be ridden from post four by Emmanuel Esquivel.

Stunning Sapphire makes her first start Friday for trainer Nik Goodwin, who purchased her as an agent in April for $230,000 out of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company Spring Sale where she worked an eighth mile in :10 flat from the Shooting Star Sales LLC consignment.
(Stunning Sapphire’s OBS Sale Page)

 

By Ocala Stud’s Win Win Win, the leading freshman and juvenile sire in Florida last year, Stunning Sapphire has several bullet works since moving to Goodwin’s stable at Canterbury Park. Her most recent move was a five-furlong breeze in :59.60, the fastest of nine on June 25.

Bred in Florida by the late Brereton C. Jones, Stunning Sapphire is out of Kiteta, by Smart Strike, a half-sister to Ijegen, winner of the Sports Hai Musashino Stakes (G3) in Japan.

She will be ridden from post one by Betty Jo Williams.

Favored at 8-5 is Sassy C W, the undefeated winner of the $145,000 Astoria going five-and-a-half furlongs at Saratoga Race Course in her last race on June 5. She also won a maiden special weight by more than five lengths at Churchill Downs on April 30 in her first start.

Sassy C W is also an OBS graduate, having been purchased by Carolyn Wilson for $375,000 out of the Top Line Sales LLC as agent consignment of Jimbo and Torie Gladwell during the March Sale where she worked a furlong in :9.80.

Sassy C W is by first crop sire Yaupon out of the Tiznow mare Sassy Miss Sue, a half-sister to Grade 1-winner and graded-stakes producer Tiz Miz Sue, stakes-winner Bulletin and stakes-producers Sue’s Sweet Sioux, Tiz News and Kateri, a graded-stakes producer.

Larry Rivelli trains Sassy C W for Wilson and Patricia’s Hope LLC and has given the riding assignment to Jareth Loveberry. She has post five.

Completing the field are Run Your Mouth with jockey Glenn Corbett, Quick Sand will be ridden by Franciso Arrieta, Ken Tohill has the mount on Song Magic, Kickin will have Luis Colon in the irons and Tyler Bacon rides Chamonix.

Return to the July 2 issue of Wire to Wire