Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap: Tips & Picks

Written by Jake Thompson
Friday, 24 June 2011 02:32

Horse racing picks are ready to go in the 2011 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.

The Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap is a 1 1/8-mile race, with eleven 3-or-older horses racing for their chunk of the $300,000 purse.  It’s ran on dirt and is listed as a Grade 3 stakes race that has a post time of roughly 11:17 PM EST set for Saturday, June 25th.  We’ll go over all of the horses running in the Cornhusker Handicap and see if we can’t make the right decisions on the entries you should be wagering on.

2011 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap: Horses, Post Positions, Odds, and Tips

1 – Headache, 8/1

He’s coming off a 1st place finish in an allowance race against, among others, 2010 Preakness Stakes competitor Northern Giant, but has faced non-stellar competition for many of his career races.  A 1st place win in the Claiming Crown Jewel close to a year ago was followed by three consecutive 3rd place finishes and an 8th before his last triumph.

2 – It Happened Again, 6/1

This horse has taken an odd career path, starting out with 4 tough graded stakes races (no wins) before going back to allowance and claiming chances.  After failing to win after 9 career races, It Happened Again won 3 straight, including the grade 3 Razorback.  Most recently he was 5th in a fairly talented Oaklawn Handicap field.

3 – Schramsberg, 10/1

After failing to win over his first 5 career starts, Schramsberg switched to Chris Landeros and took home a win in the John B. Connally Turf Handicap last time out.  Landeros won’t get a 2nd chance to repeat this time out, and this potential late bloomer has never finished better than 4th on dirt.

4 – Awesome Gem, 3/1

Sired by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Awesome Again, Awesome Gem has 3 career graded stakes victories at a mile or longer.  He’s been largely unpredictable, but is the most proven horse in the field thanks to the high level of competition he’s faced.

5 – Fast Alex, 12/1

Sired by 2005 Belmont and Preakness Stakes winner Afleet Alex, Fast Alex hasn’t seen the same type of success as his pedigree might suggest.  After breaking his maiden, he won 2 out of 3 allowance races before finishing no better than 3rd his last 3 times out.  The distance and surface won’t be a problem, and I could see a jump up in performance here.

6 – Victory Pete, 15/1

This horse at least has experience on this track, finishing 4th in the 2009 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows.  His only career win was in an allowance race back in 2009, but it’s a bit intriguing to note that Victory Pete has only ran once on actual dirt in his career.  His synthetic results and pedigree don’t really point toward a distance runner on dirt, but Animal Kingdom was in a similar spot before winning the 2011 Kentucky Derby.

7 – Red Lead, 20/1

This long shot has never won over 7 tries, but he’s also never attempted to pick up an easy win in a claimer or allowance race either.  This horse has been in there with some quality runners, always going a mile or longer on dirt.  With the #7 post position being the furthest inside he’s ever started from, I could see potentially taking a chance.

8 – Cryptolight, 20/1

This guy was sired by a turf horse but has been running on dirt ever since his first career race resulted in a 7th place turf finish.  He’s never claimed victory and has been beaten twice by Stachys in recent 2011 races.  I’m just not seeing it.

9 – Shadowbdancing, 8/1

This is an interesting betting choice because of how many times he’s ran on dirt at a mile or longer, but the defending Cornhusker champion has fared very poorly since that big win.  He’s lost to Awesome Gem and Cryptolight previously, but won this race in 2010 and took 2nd in 2009.  He has experience on the track, but ultimately I think he’s living on past achievements and might be outclassed in the strong 2011 field.

10 – Stachys, 9/2

He’s done well in races against some good competition, but has only one career win to show for it.  Stachys debuted with a 6th place finish in an allowance race and has since finished no worse than 4th thru 6 more attempts.  He’s a dirt horse that can get the distance, I like his pedigree, but I’m also questioning why he can’t break through and win more often.

11 – Black Hills, 12/1

Anyone betting on Black Hills will be doing so in a speculative manner after this horse took 10th in a claimer before finishing 8th in the Sunshine Millions Classic last time out.  The pedigree on his sire’s side is extremely nice, but I just haven’t seen anything that makes me believe in Black Hills.  The potential is there, but is 12/1 worthy of a play on potential?

2011 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap: Winner and Trifecta Picks

I’m going with Awesome Gem to be the best of the bunch, followed by Red Lead in a surprise 2nd place showing that will pay off nicely for the exacta.  Fast Alex claims 3rd and shows massive improvement, while It Happened Again and Stachys finish as the next two horses.