Saturday afternoon at Canterbury Park will be a buzz of excitement like it is every year when the annual Claiming Crown stakes are the focus of the day. Restricted to horses that have started for a claiming price in the last year ranging from $7.500 all the way up to $35.000, it gives owners and trainers with these claimers a day in the spotlight and a reason to celebrate the hard work they have done with their once lower claimers.
One of these races is the CC Tiara. The mile and one sixteenth turf stake for the purse of $100.000 has a field of seven fillies and mares three-year-old and upwards hoping to get their first ever stakes victory for some. However for others this is a drop in class for them. One of such horses would be Twisted Vicky.
Twisted Vicky from NorthernTraderStable broke her maiden for $16.000, went on to easily win a $32.000 claiming race, both late last year and since then has never been worse than third in all of her upper level allowance races including two graded performances recently. While she has not been able to win this year, she is by far the toughest mare of the group and will be the one to beat.
The rest of the field is as follows:
1 Urchin
Running Bears four-year-old filly broke her maiden late last year for $12.500 in a state bred race at the Fair Grounds. Since then she has been very competitive in the state bred races, always finishing in the top three and never by more than a length. She definitely appears to be improving so this race might not be a huge leap for her.
2 Sweet Domination
Nelson Stable claimed this four-year-old filly last time out for $4.000, a race in which she ran second by a quarter of a length. While that was the lowest price she had ever run for, this filly has not been able to get a win in over a year and last time she ran this distance she ran fifth by eight lengths. This race might be a bit too tough for her.
3 La Bella Vita
Distance is definitely a question for this Zz Equine Racing filly since she has a tendency to stop at anything over seven furlongs. She is able to pick up a check here and there but nothing to say she is ready for a race like this.
4 Twisted Vicky
On paper this NorthernTraderStables mare is dominant. She runs well at top level tracks, she runs well in graded stakes, she works well, so why is she in here? Well no doubt looking for an easy win, something she has been unable to do so far this year. The distance is perfect, the surface is perfect so she is the one to beat.
5 Fast Causeway
Claimed by Angelos Stables two starts ago for $37.000, this three-year-old filly should do very well at this distance. The only problem I foresee for this filly would be the fact that she just ran nine days ago. It might be too quick of a turnaround which will no doubt cost her in here.
6 Puerto Vallarta
Claimed last time out for $14.000, this five-year-old mare is now in her fifth barn in under a year. She is very, very honest and runs her heart out each and every race which is no doubt the reason why she has transferred hands so many times since late last year. She has never run this far though and judging by her last race the distance could be a problem for her. Expect her to pick up a check though.
7 To Her Door
With only four starts, this four-year-old filly from Mojica Racing just might be the one to give Twisted Vicky a run for her money. Her works are very impressive, including a 136.3 mile turf work earlier this month. This is her first time at this route but all signs point to her loving it.
Alberta Rose Picks:
4/7/6/5
