OffTrackBetting.com – Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas will play host to the G3 Lone Star Park Handicap on Sunday, May 28. Horses three years old and upward will be featured when they take to Lone Star’s dirt track and race 1 1/16 miles for the winner’s share of the $200,000 purse.
A field of just five have been confirmed for the Lone Star Park Handicap – race 9 on Lone Star’s Sunday schedule. Post time is 6:40 PM. Here is a peek into the past performances of all five combatants for this intriguing G3 stakes.
2017 Lone Star Park Handicap Entries at Lone Star Park
Danzing Candy 7-5 – Bob Baffert trained colt has four wins, a second and a third place finish in nine career starts. He made his stakes debut last March 12 and produced a terrific win by two lengths in the G2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita which followed an impressive 5 3/4 length gate-to-wire Allowance Optional Claiming score on that track February 4 of 2016. He went on to a disappointing fifteenth place finish in the Kentucky Derby and finished his 2016 campaign with an OK second in the G3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita in July. Danzing Candy was off for eight months before returning to a third place finish in the minor Jo Hernandez Stakes at Santa Anita in March and a nice Allowance Optional Claiming score last time out on that track May 5. He has been decent so far in his career and will be chasing a first stakes score in 14 months Sunday from the rail. Mike Smith rides the morning line favorite.
Texas Chrome 9-5 – JR Caldwell trained colt has been good so far in his 16 race career – eight wins, two seconds and three third place finishes including wins in his first three career starts (two stakes). He enters off an OK second in the G3 Steve Sexton Mile Stakes on this track May 7 after two disappointing results – a sixth in the G2 Oaklawn Handicap April 15 and a ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Before that was a nice three race win streak – The G3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park September 25, the G3 Super Derby September 10 and the $100,000 minor Super Derby Prelude Stakes August 6. He also posted a good second in the G3 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows July 1, a decent third in his graded stakes debut – the G3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs June 18, a win by an incredible 10 1/2 lengths in the minor Texas Stallion Stakes at Lone Star in May and a third in the minor Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn Park in April. Texas Chrome has been competitive so far and tries to snap a three race losing streak Sunday from post 5. Ricardo Santana Jr. will be in the reins of the second betting choice.
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Shotgun Kowboy 4-1 – defending runner-up in this race, CR Trout trained gelding has eight wins, five seconds and a third place finish in 19 career starts. He won a couple of minor stakes races in 2014 and in 2015 won the G3 Oklahoma Derby and minor Oklahoma Classics Cup at Remington Park. In 2016, he posted three straight runner-up finishes in graded stakes action – the G3 Texas Mile and G3 Lone Star Park Handicap (both on this track) and the G3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows. Last time out was a slightly disappointing fourth in the G3 Steve Sexton Mile here May 7 after a sixth in the minor Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park March 18 and two straight Allowance Optional Claiming scores to start 2017 on that track as well. Shotgun Kowboy has been up and down in his career and will chase a first stakes score in 18 months Sunday from gate 4. Luiz Quinones rides the intriguing morning line third choice.
Neck `n Neck 5-1 – Steve Asmussen trainee was at his best in 2012 when he won the G3 Matt Winn Stakes, the G2 Indiana Derby and the G3 Ack Ack Handicap. He took two years before posting another graded stakes score – the G3 Greenwood Cup Stakes at Parx in September, 2015. Neck `n Neck has been just OK ahead of this weekend – a runner-up finish last time out in the minor Sunland Park Handicap April 16 followed a third in an Allowance Optional Claiming April 1 and a second in a similar race March 10 – both at Oaklawn Park. He failed to place in two of his three previous starts including an eighth in the G2 Brooklyn Invitational last June and a fifth in the G3 Ben Ali Stakes in April, 2016. Neck `n Neck shoots for his first win overall in nearly 20 months with Richard Eramia guiding him from post 3.
Carouse 20-1 – Steve Asmussen trained gelding has just five wins, a second and four third place finishes in 20 career starts. He makes his graded stakes debut Sunday off and Allowance Optional Claiming score in this track May 12 which followed four straight off-the-board finishes in Claiming races to start 2017. He had a trio of third place finishes in minor stakes action to start his career – two coming in the summer of 2016 but hasn’t been great since. Carouse shoots for his fist ever stakes score when he leaves from gate 2 Sunday with Iram Vargas Diego aboard.
2017 Lone Star Park Handicap Odds & Entries
Race 9 on Lone Star Park’s Sunday card with a Post Time of 7:40 PM.