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Prairie Meadows Presents Saturday Stakes Doubleheader
Apollitical Queen is among a strong field of contenders for the 350-yard, $25,000 Cy-Hawk Stakes (R) on Saturday at Prairie Meaodws.

© Coady Photography
Prairie Meadows Presents Saturday Stakes Doubleheader

BY MICHAEL CUSORTELLI

ALTOONA, IA—JULY 14, 2020—A dozen Iowa-bred aged sprinters, led by stakes winners Apollitical Queen and Iris Royal Jess, will face the Prairie Meadows starter in Saturday’s 350-yard, $25,000 Cy-Hawk Stakes (R).

Apollitical Queen and Iris Royal Jess are both trained by Alex Wessels for owner B/B Wessels LLC. A homebred 4-year-old daughter of world champion Apollitical Jess, Apollitical Queen won all four of her sophomore starts at Prairie Meadows, including the 400-yard, $80,000 Polk County Derby (R) for state-breds.

Apollitical Queen drew post 5 and will be ridden by Brett Birzer.

Iris Royal Jess is a 5-year-old son of Captain Courage who has won six of his 10 outs at Prairie Meadows, including the 2018 Polk County Derby (R). The gray gelding ended his 2019 campaign with a second-place finish in the 400-yard, $60,000 Terrace Hill Stakes (R) for Iowa-breds.

Iris Royal Jess drew post 4 and will be ridden by Cristian Esqueda.

The complete lineup, in post position order including jockey assignments:

  1. Kays Dynasty (Eugenio Navarrete Jr.)
  2. Rowdy Anywhere (Ronald Hisby)
  3. Streakin Jesszee (Jorge Torres)
  4. Iris Royal Jess (Cristian Esqueda)
  5. Apollitical Queen (Brett Birzer)
  6. Lil Upity (Alex Birzer)
  7. Regal Dynasty (Oscar Delgado)
  8. CR Hez The Man (Denny Velazquez)
  9. Kays Wagon (Ramiro H. Garcia)
  10. Lil Tuff Wagon (Jonathan Dominguez)
  11. The Polar Vortex (Berkley Packer)
  12. Real Wagon (Jesus Salazar)

Also on Saturday, Lisa M. Baumeister’s Haul Your Wood heads a field of 12 Iowa-bred 3-year-olds entered in the 350-yard, $58,525 Cyclone Derby (R). A gelded son of Lil Kool Wagon trained by Wayne Garner, Haul Your Wood has earned $64,488 from five outs -- all at Prairie Meadows -- and his three wins include a neck victory as the 7-5 favorite in the 350-yard, $87,000 Iowa Stallion Futurity (R). The gelding drew post 6 and will be ridden by Cristian Esqueda.

All Prairie Meadows races can be seen at Q-RacingVideo.com.