Shifty Time figures to be a short price when she stretches out to a mile in the $50,000 Northlands Oaks Handicap at Northlands Park on Monday. The $50,000 feature for 3-year-old fillies drew nine horses.
Under trainer Greg Tracy, Shifty Time was voted the champion 2-year-old filly in Alberta last year. All of Tracy’s horses were transferred to leading trainer Robertino Diodoro on Friday. Diodoro and the stewards at Northlands wouldn’t comment on the reason for the transfer. The stewards did say a ruling on Tracy was pending.
Shifty Time figures to relish the added distance after finishing second in the six-furlong Chariot Chaser in her first start this year July 1. In 2009, she won three stakes at Northlands by a combined total of 24 lengths and closed out the year with a nine-length romp in the one-mile Freedom of City. She will be ridden by Shannon Beauregard. She inherited the mount from Quincy Welch, who is recovering from injuries inflicted in a spill July 16.
Diodoro has also entered That Voodoo Youdo, another horse he picked up from Tracy. That Voodoo Youdo will be stretching out to a middle-distance for the first time. She is coming off of a win in a first-level allowance race July 16.
There is plenty of potential speed in the field and that could help set things up for Hastings invader Ebony N Ice, who will be making her first start for trainer Jerri Robertson. Ebony N Ice is coming off of a fifth-place finish in the $53,000 Supernaturel at Hastings on July 1. As a 2-year-old, she won the $103,000 Fantasy Stakes.
Notoriously upset Shifty Time in the Chariot Chaser and is certainly capable of carrying her speed around three turns.
