Custom Cantab will bring her career-long streak of 28 on-the-board finishes to Thursday’s $183,900 Matron Stakes for three-year-old female trotters at Dover Downs, which will be the filly’s first start at a track other than Hoosier Park. Custom Cantab, who is 6-1 on the morning line, heads to the event off of a win in the Crossroads of America on November 2. The triumph was her twelfth from 16 races this season.
Trained and co-owned by Chris Beaver, Custom Cantab has recorded 14 wins, 10 seconds and four thirds in her career and has banked $643,936 in purse earning. In addition to the Crossroads, her victories this year include a division of the Pegasus Stakes and the Indiana Sires Stakes championship. She finished second to Manchego in the Moni Maker Stakes and has not finished worse than second in 13 races since surgery to correct an entrapped epiglottis.
Custom Cantab will start the Matron from Post 6 with regular driver Peter Wrenn. Breeders Crown champion Lily Stride is the 2-1 morning-line favourite from Post 3, with Tim Tetrick driving for trainer Mark Harder. Plunge Blue Chip is the 5-2 second choice from Post 1 with trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt.
“We were up in the air whether to start her again, but everything checked out on her and I’d been anxious to see how she would race against a top field to get some perspective,” Beaver said. “We plan on racing her next year. She’s probably not as valuable as a broodmare as some of those fillies are, but she’s a really nice racehorse.
“I think she will be staked to some of the mare races and maybe some of the four-year-old races. I wouldn’t be staking to everything. I’d like to space out her starts. Maybe she won’t be good enough, but the way she acts, she’s never let a horse get away from her. She’s always been competitive.”
Dover Downs will host the four Matrons for three-year-old trotters and pacers Thursday. Racing will begin at 4:30 p.m. (EST).
Six Pack is the 6-5 morning-line favourite in the $210,150 colt and gelding trot, followed by Mets Hall at 8-5. Dorsoduro Hanover is the 2-1 choice in the $193,750 colt and gelding pace, which also includes Jimmy Freight (5-2) and Lather Up (7-2). Youaremycandygirl is the 5-2 favourite in the $159,350 filly pace, where she will see familiar rivals Alexas Power (7-2) and Percy Bluechip (9-2).
Custom Cantab is a daughter of Mr Cantab out of Custom Model. Beaver bought Custom Model’s first foal, the Chocolatier-sired My Ghost Bi, for $3,000 at the 2011 Lexington Selected Sale and the gelding made $75,852 lifetime. Beaver bought Custom Cantab, the mare’s third foal, for $6,000 at the 2016 Hoosier Sale.
“I knew the family and thought she was something nicer than what the mare had thrown before,” Beaver said. “I kind of studied crosses and I thought the mare would cross with Mr Cantab, but I can’t say I had any idea she would turn out as good as this. I was just hoping to get a horse that was competitive in the sire stakes.”
Beaver, who owns Custom Cantab with Donald Robinson and R.B.H. Ventures, is not concerned about the filly going on the road for the first time and racing on a five-eighths-mile oval compared to Hoosier Park’s seven-eighths track.
“She trains on a little farm track, so she should be all right,” Beaver said. “I think she would be good on any size track because even if she was struggling in the turns she would let you help her. She knows what she’s supposed to be doing.
“She’s smart. She can leave all you want and let a horse go, settle in a hole, and follow without using any more energy than necessary. She’s been racing on the front a lot lately because she’s been the favourite, but she is great off a helmet. She knows how to take care of herself and put herself in position to stay close. She is an extremely professional horse.”
(USTA)