The $120,000 Courageous Lady goes postward Saturday evening at Northfield Park, and the Grand Circuit event has attracted eight of North America’s top three-year-old filly pacers.
This year’s Jugette winner, L A Delight, has been named the 5-2 morning line favourite by Northfield Park Executive Vice President of Racing and Simulcasting Dave Bianconi despite the fact that she’s scheduled to start from the far outside of the gate in Post 8.
A Courageous Lady victory would push L A Delight’s earnings in excess of $1.5 million. The Robert McIntosh trainee has posted nine victories this year, including a 1:49.1 win at The Meadows Racetrack. McIntosh, a 2003 inductee into Harness Racing’s Hall of Fame, has called upon fellow HOF member, John Campbell, to drive.
The morning line second choice, Rock Me Baby, has drawn post five for trainer Heidi Rohr. She enters this event off an impressive 1:52.4 qualifier at Saratoga Raceway where she bested her competition by seven lengths. Tim Tetrick, another member of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame, has been named to pilot Rock Me Baby.
Ron Burke, the leading money winning trainer in North America, has entered two fillies in Saturday’s featured event. Burke will start Mother Of Art, the 9-2 morning line fourth choice, and Free Show, a 12-1 morning line longshot.
Here’s the field for Saturday’s rich event:
$120,000 Courageous Lady
1. Mother Of Art
2. Time On My Hands
3. Bellatricks
4. Yankee Moonshine
5. Rock Me Baby
6. Free Show
7. Dime A Dance
8. L A Delight
This year’s Courageous Lady is the 11th of a 15-race program. A $10,000 guaranteed Pick-4 pool has been added to the night. The guaranteed Pick-4 will begin with race eight and conclude with the Courageous Lady.
In addition to world-class excitement on the track, an impressive array of activities has been planned for guests in attendance. “Home for the Holiday” drawings will be announced throughout the evening where winners will be taking home household goods worth thousands of dollars. Guests can also try their luck in Ohio Lottery Plinko and second chance drawings for non-winning instant lotto tickets that are $5 or more in value.
Attendees can also enjoy a $19.95 buffet in Lady Luck’s Clubhouse Restaurant, which offers a panoramic view of the races. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 330.467.4101.
HISTORY OF THE RACE
The race is named after one of the finest and most popular pacing fillies ever to compete on Northfield Park’s Flying Turns -- Courageous Lady.
The poignant story behind the race revolves around the late Ruth Cohen of Mayfield Heights. In 1977, Julian Cohen, a Cleveland attorney and avid harness racing fan, paid $35,000 for the two year-old filly Courageous Lady for his sister Ruth, who had been diagnosed with cancer and given only two years to live. “We bought Courageous Lady midway through the filly’s two year-old season and Ruth loved that horse,” said Mr. Cohen, who himself passed away in 1997. “We followed her to all of her races. Ruth lived another eight years, primarily because of her horse.”
Courageous Lady, an Ohio-sired daughter of Captain Courageous from the mare Painter Pam, earned $418,256 between 1977 and 1981. She took a time-trial mark of 1:54.4 and twice equaled the 1:55.2 world record of the famed Silk Stockings. Among her other illustrious accomplishments, Courageous Lady became the first Ohio Sires Stakes champion to defend her title. She won numerous stakes in the United States and Canada, setting multiple stakes and national season’s standards.
As a broodmare, Courageous Lady produced two outstanding offspring prior to her untimely passing in 1989 at age 14. The filly Uptown Swell as a 1:54.2 performer with career earnings of $728,135, and Courageous Legacy, a Sonsam stallion, garnered a 1:52.2 lifetime record while banking over $183,000 for owner Julian Cohen.
Northfield Park is proud to honor Ruth Cohen and the great mare, Courageous Lady. The outstanding fields of distaff talent annually assembled for the Courageous Lade are a fitting tribute for two of racing’s most memorable and truly courageous ladies.
(With files from Northfield Park)