Welcome to race number two. Just a few days after rounding out the Club with the acquisition of Ender, we head postward with Laura Ray in Thursday’s fourth race. It’s $10,000 claiming race going 7 ½ furlongs over the turf course.

Group 2 (Group 2: Heidelberger – Mueller) will be in the paddock. We won’t know about a space for the Club until later on this evening or maybe even tomorrow. We will post it on the Club Twitter feed (@CBY_Racing_Club) and Facebook Page (Canterbury Racing Club) as soon as we know. There will also be signs up as you enter the track in case you miss it: if we don’t make the sign, we weren’t able to get a space.

After some rain early today it looks like the remainder of Wednesday and all of Thursday are going to be gorgeous so there shouldn’t be an issue with the race coming off the turf.

Here is a look at the race:

Indian Bella (Ashford/E Gonzalez) – Her first three races of 2019 had her closer up than she was in her previous races. She was outrun in her local debut but she had been off for close to 2 months so that was understandable as well as she was running at a higher level. She drops to the lowest level of her career in here and will be dangerous.

LAURA RAY (LITFIN/MARTIN)

Ryan and Madison (Scherer/Meche) – One of five Minnesotans in the race. This will be her first time on the turf and only second time going this far. Not usually speedy but, at times, horses stretching out flash early speed.

U S Express (Donlin Jr./Lindsay) – Another Minnesotan, though she is 0-6 over the turf, she does have a third place.

North of Eden (Silva/Eikleberry) – This oft-claimed mare has 2 turf seconds in 2 turf starts at Canterbury. She was facing allowance caliber horses at Remington but now making her first start in nearly 7 months. Possibly could provide some pace.

Seynatawnee (Bravo/Mawing) – Third Minnesotan was second in an open $20,000 nw2 lifetime claiming race over the Canterbury turf last year. In her best races she’s been able to sit just off the leaders. Made her seasonal debut at Will Rogers in April but had another six weeks off since.

Lookin Ata Runaway (Rengstorf/Butler) – Deep closing Minnesotan will be coming hard late with the master of pace, Dean Butler, aboard.

R J’s Silver Syd (McKinley/Goncalves) – Final Minnesotan is the tepid morning line favorite at 7/2. Is 3 for 11 over the Canterbury turf but has yet to win in open company. Showed more speed in seasonal debut than has in the past ($15K optional claimer).

Can’t Touch Me (Hornsby/Goodwin) – Fresh off the claim for trainer Tammy Hornsby, mare is 0-3 over the turf but was facing a tougher bunch in Arkansas. Back after nearly 9 weeks.

The big question we all have, I think (and Nevada mentions it in the video below), is will there be enough pace for our girl to run at late? There is no obvious early speed but there are several in here that like to be close and may inherit the lead whether they want it or not. Ideally there will be a few of those to drag the field along and give our girls something to run at late.

Laura Ray is 3 for 10 over this turf course so she’s done some winning here. She came back after 6 weeks into the race we claimed her where she did make up some ground before tiring a bit. She should be more fit after that effort and she should be able to keep coming this week providing the early pace is fair.

See you in the paddock after the replays of race 3.  Check out the short video of Ender and then Nevada talking about the race.