With Lilly coming back strong and performing so well, she was nominated to the $50,000 Northbound Pride Oaks to be run next Wednesday evening.

While this isn’t the first time we’ve had a stakes nominee, this IS the first time we’ve actually thought about entering.  That said, Nevada and I are leaning toward not entering.  The 21 nominees vary in quality but there are several that could be monsters and we can probably find a softer spot for her.

We’ll keep kicking it around tonight and tomorrow morning through entry time.  We’ll let you know where we land.  I wouldn’t expect it, but it is exciting to think about.

You can find the list of nominees and their past performances here: http://www.canterburypark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Northbound-Pride-Final.pdf

We didn’t lose anything by nominating her.  The race is free to nominate.  However, to enter the fee is $250 and then to start it’s another $250.  This really isn’t a bad amount considering some stakes can be thousands to enter.  Others you need to nominate when the horse is young and then make sustaining payments in later years to keep the horse eligible.  And this is all before you even know what kind of horse you have.

We are not in that situation here.

The Northbound Pride Oaks is a mile on the turf for 3-year old fillies so we do have distance concerns.  We think she can probably get the mile but it is unknown for sure.

So I’m sure Nevada and I will make 15 different decisions between now and the time entries close and, while it’s not a lot of money, it’s still money that we don’t want to waste if we don’t have a shot.

You can probably tell by this post how back and forth we are on it.

So stay tuned and we’ll let you know!