Was it a weak Courageous Lady field on Friday?

[trackrat]

On a track rated "Good" on Friday night, the winner of the $110,000 Courageous Lady Pace, Fiyonce, paced in 155.1 for winning driver Josh Sutton. Seven, count em, seven other winners at Northfield Park on Friday night paced FASTER than that winning time. As a long time Northfield patron and handicapper, I know there are tactics employed throughout any particular race that have a bearing on getting a horse home first, regardless of the time... and maybe the track itself was unforgiving. But to have SEVEN other races, including a $4K claimer, produce better winning times SEEMS to point to a weak Courageous Lady field.

Another critical observation involves Kayla Grace's driver, Brad Kramer. While he may have been her regular driver up north, I would have sought out Greg Grismore or Ronnie Wrenn from the idle drivers available for race 11, or even enticed Dan Noble up from Miami Valley for the night. The point being that all three are familiar with Northfield's particular brand of aggressive racing, while Brad Kramer is not. Home court advantage may have helped Kayla Grace remain undefeated.

Anyone want to comment?

[jimhorseman]

The field did seem weak. Lets face it the winner of the race was last in her qualifier and 7th in her only start of the year. Kayla Grace; the heavy favorite, was the only horse with more than one start this year and they were all in NW 2 events. Several of the bigger name horses were making their seasonal debuts and in my opinion could have used a start of two before the Courageous Lady. At least it was an exciting finish which is easier to state with the passage of a few days. Naturally I was on the wrong end of the photo......again.