Exotics Plays for the Lady Canterbury Stakes

*Canterbury Park has Canceled Saturday Racing Due To Heat; Sunday Program moved to 5 PM

The three $50,000 stakes that were part of today’s card, the Canterbury Derby, Lady Canterbury and Brooks Fields are being rescheduled for Saturday, June 28 and will be redrawn when entries are taken tomorrow.

An octet of well-matched fillies and mares will travel one mile on the lawn in Saturday’s $50,000 Lady Canterbury S. at Canterbury Park. #1 Cupids Crush (5-2) dons a sterling four-for-four mark on the local lawn and must be included in all of my plays. Trained by McLean Robertson, the five-year-old has been competing in stakes races going 5 1/2 panels in her last pair of tries and will appreciate both the stretch out in distance and the return to this venue, as well. 

Lady Canterbury Exotics

• $15 exacta 1 with 3,7 ($30)
• 50-cent trifecta 1 with 3,4,7,8 with all ($12)
• 30-cent superfecta 1,3,7 with 1,3,7 with 1,3,7 with all ($9) 

Cupids Crush bagged a trio of contests on the course in 2024, and she is also perfect from two tries at the eight-furlong distance, too. The Cupid mare is very versatile in that she can fire on firm or good turf, and from on or off the pace, and the Minnesota-bred looms large with Harry Hernandez in the controls. 

The Ty Garrett-trained #7 Tour Queen (6-1) was just 1 1/4 lengths behind the favorite in an allowance test on the course in September and rates an obvious chance while making her seasonal debut. By Tourist, the four-year-old posted a bullet five furlongs on the main oval locally in her most recent move and runs for a conditioner who is good with layoff horses in general. The pace of this race could be a contested one, so the stalker could be well-positioned at the top of the lane under Alonso Quinonez. 

#3 Queen Judith (9-2) had a good prep for this when a clear runner-up in an allowance endeavor at Hawthorne last time out for trainer Larry Rivelli. The six-year-old daughter of Empire Maker is essentially a one-run closer in a cast with numerous forward types, and she will be making her second run off the bench for a top outfit. Kentucky-bred mare has won or placed in each of her three lifetime runs at the distance and will be arriving on the scene late in her local debut with Walter Rodriguez signed on for the trip.