Sam Houston Race Park proudly presents the Houston Racing Festival this Sunday, January 27th featuring the seventh running of the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic (Grade 3). First post from Sam Houston is scheduled for 1:15pm Central (2:15pm Eastern).
A field of seven fillies and mares have been entered for the Houston Ladies Classic led by, Midnight Bisou, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks. The Steve Asmussen trained runner begins her 4-year-old campaign off a 3rd place finish in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Hall-of-fame jockey Mike Smith will travel to Houston for the mount on Midnight Bisou and make his first ever appearance at the track. Ready to take on Midnight Bisou is a talented group of runners led by graded stakes winner, Prado’s Sweet Ride, winner of the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs in runaway fashion just two races back. Joe Bravo gets the amount aboard Remedy from the Brad Cox barn. This 4-year-old was much improved last year when switching from turf to dirt and enters Sunday’s race off back-to-back 2nd place finishes against graded stakes company. Others in the field include Song from Above, Viva Forever, Moonlit Garden, and Heavenhasmynikki.
Not to be overshadowed on a stellar card is the $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup (Grade 3). The 1 1/2 mile turf event has drawn a field of nine runners from across the United States and features a rematch between Bigger Picture and Some In Tieme, the top two finishers from the 2018 Connally Turf Cup.
Other stakes scheduled for the Sunday card are the $75,000 Frontier Utilities Turf Sprint, $50,000 Stonerside Sprint, $50,000 Jersey Lilly Turf Stakes, and $50,000 Houston Turf Stakes.
Attached is an overnight for Sunday and press release for both the Houston Ladies Classic and Connally Turf Cup.
Thanks to everyone for your support of IdaBet and Sam Houston Race Park live racing.
| Race # | Post Time (Central) | |
| 1 | 1:15pm | (START OF EARLY PICK 5) |
| 2 | 1:42 | (START OF EARLY PICK 4) |
| 3 | 2:15 | |
| 4 | 2:48 | |
| 5 | 3:20 | $50,000 Houston Turf Stakes (START OF $.20 SPACE CITY PICK 6) |
| 6 | 3:55 | $75,000 Frontier Utilities Turf Sprint (START OF LATE PICK 5) |
| 7 | 4:28 | $50,000 Stonerside Sprint (START OF LATE PICK 4) |
| 8 | 5:15 | $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup (Gr. 3) |
| 9 | 5:58 | $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic (Gr. 3) |
| 10 | 6:28 | $50,000 Jersey Lilly Stakes |
HLC-Connally-Draw-Release-2019
