Leading divisional U.S. Horse of the Year candidate Test Of Faith will look to continue her streak of Grand Circuit stakes wins in Saturday night’s (Oct. 16) $100,000 Courageous Lady for three-year-old filly pacers at MGM Northfield Park.
Test Of Faith, a New York Sires Stakes champion as a two and three-year-old, put together back-to-back Grand Circuit wins at Kentucky’s famed Red Mile on October 3 and 10, including the $207,000 Glen Garnsey this past Sunday afternoon in a career-best 1:48.3. The Brett Pelling trainee has compiled 19 victories and three runner-up finishes in 22 career starts, good for $1,155,239 in purses. Hall of Fame driver and Ohio native David Miller will be in the sulky. She has drawn post five in the seven-horse field.
Ohio Sires Stakes champion Smothastenesewisky checks in as a 10-1 longshot. She will start from post four for owner/trainer Brian Haynes. The daughter of Nob Hill High is a Cinderella story for Haynes, who purchased the filly as a yearling for $4,000. That meager investment has yielded nearly $350,000 of earnings in return. Smothastenesewisky has a 1:48.4 mark at The Red Mile earlier this year and has posted seven wins, one second and three third-place finishes in 16 starts this year. Brett Miller is slated to drive.
Oakwoodanabella IR was not staked to the race, but her connections decided to pay $11,500 (supplement and starting fee) to be able to go postward in Saturday's event. She was a perfect six-for-six last year as a freshman in Ireland and this recent U.S. import has won three of five races so far this year. Her most recent score came earlier this month at Hollywood Dayton Raceway in a sparkling 1:49.3 track record performance. Trainer Brian Brown trains the Foreclosure N filly and has listed Ronnie Wrenn Jr. to pilot the 4-1 second choice from post two.
The 2021 edition of the $100,000 Courageous Lady field is listed below (with drivers, trainers and morning-line odds).
1. Think Of Galaxies (Matt Kakaley, Chris Short) 6-1
2. Oakwoodanabella IR (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., Brian Brown) 4-1
3. Summer Touch (Chris Page, Ron Burke) 15-1
4. Smothastenesewhisky (Brett Miller, Brian Haynes) 10-1
5. Test Of Faith (David Miller, Brett Pelling) 3-5
6. Continualou (Dan Noble, Ron Burke) 20-1
7. State Of Mind (Aaron Merriman, Donald Lindsey) 25-1
This year’s Courageous Lady is the 11th of a 16-race program. A $10,000 guaranteed Pick-4 pool has been added to the night. The guaranteed Pick-4 will begin with the Courageous Lady.
The undercard consists of eight $60,000 Buckeye Stallion Series Championships and the weekly $20,500 Filly and Mare Open Pace.
First race post time is 6 p.m. Admission and parking are always free at MGM Northfield Park.
(With files from Northfield Park)