Stable Notes by Mike Ahrens: Saturday, July 4, 2020

The weather today was fairly constant with a moderate tailwind or minor cross-wind throughout the day. Clouds came and went, the temperature went up and down. But after the seventh race, not a single horse through the remaining half of the card was able to crack the top five fastest times, though in the finale HR Princess Jess ran a dynamite race to just miss that mark.

The sixth race had the two fastest qualifiers for the finals, and also had the strongest tailwind of the day at 14 mph. Wryker, trained by Marc Jungers and ridden by Jerry Lee Yoakum, took over from Packsaddle Senator, trained by Gerald Reed and ridden by Sergio Becerra, Jr., by mid-stretch. He soon opened a clear lead and held sway over that rival in 19.524 while the latter finished up in 19.685. "We've been here all meet, can't break a maiden, but today's good," said Jungers, referencing the bit of a struggle he's had thus far. In addition to training this gelding, he is the co-owner and breeder. "His full sister won last night at Retama," so that could have given bettors a bit of an insight into what was a stellar performance.

Until that race, the fastest time came in the second when B Cause Im A Hero shot out of the gate under Cody Roger Smith and never looked back to win by a length in 19.690. Trainer Clint Crawford said "He's always been a good colt, he just had some little green issues in the beginning. It's like Cody said last time, we'll be ready by Rainbow. I told him yesterday, joking, you know what a good number is? 1969, the year I was born." And that was good enough to make the finals.

From the fifth race, Blane Wood's stable continued to heat up as Whistle Stop Cafe took charge soon after the start and drew off to win with room to spare. Race number seven produced a unique and entertaining result in that the winner was a horse breaking from post 10 who was named Seven. Like B Cause Im A Hero, this runner is trained by Clint Crawford and was ridden today by Cody Roger Smith. To boot, the place horse from that event was the number seven, creating a Seven and #7 exacta.

Tomorrow we look forward to trials for the inaugural Rainbow Oaks as well as the Derby.