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The Kim Veerhusen-trained Nikki Nine returns to Fonner Park today to defend her championship in the 20th running of the four-furlong Bold Accent Stakes.
Nikki Nine, the winner of three races in 2007 for a bankroll of $30,638, is the morning line favorite as she makes her 2008 debut in a race she won wire-to-wire last year.
Although Nikki Nine will be tough to dethrone and is listed as the 5-2 morning line favorite, the race came up with an outstanding field where handicappers would have a hard time tossing anyone out.
"This race is an extremely tough race, there isn't a bad horse in the entire field." Veerhusen said.
That may be an understatement as the fillies and mares that make up the field is very deep and filled with outstanding front speed.
"I've heard that Boyd Caster's mare, Here's a Memory, is very fast out of the gate," Veerhusen said. "The two horse (Rumors Abound) looks very fast, and we had to outrun Carson's Rumor and Lovesablumin' last year to win. And Larry Donlin's horse (Ocean Sky) can run."
Veerhusen has had his star mare and the rest of his stable training at Retama Park in San Antonio, Texas, since the middle of January.
"We needed to go somewhere that we could get away from the cold weather, so we took our string down to the training center at Retama." Veerhusen said.
Veerhusen trains Nikki Nine for the Whispering Pines Stable of Mary Mckee and brother Todd Veerhusen. Regular rider Larren Delorme again takes the riding assignment.
"We think she's (Nikki Nine) ready, you hope she's ready," Veerhusen said. "We're on the outside so we'll have to break well."
The speedy Here's a Memory ships in for trainer Boyd Caster from his Oklahoma base, and brings jockey Scott Young along to ride in his Fonner Park debut.
Caster echoed Veerhusen's thoughts about how tough the race looks on paper.
"This race is really live, with all the speed in here you better get out and get position to the turn or you'll be out of luck." Caster said.
Caster claimed the seven-year-old mare for Steve Dupy and Kent Blair racing under the stable of Southern Okie Boys with the idea of breeding her.
"I've only had the horse for one race on the turf, but I've been an admirer of her for a long time." Caster said.
Here's A Memory ran a strong second for Caster in November in a $12,500 claimer at Remington Park.
Both Here's a Memory and Nikki Nine will be interested in how Joe Neff's Rumors Abound, ridden by Damon Leeds, breaks.
The Oklahoma-bred mare by Ghost Power has been running three- and four-furlong races and has also been competing against quarter horses in her last two races at Colorado's Arapahoe Park.
The Bold Accent is named for the brilliantly fast mare owned by Paul Kemling and trained by brother O.D. Kemling that won a total of nine stakes races at Fonner Park from 1967-1972.
The nine-horse field goes postward at 4:32 p.m.
Hoofprints
* C.R. Charmer, owned by Caryn Moser and trained by Ronald Westermann, led the field in both victories and money earned in 2007. The five year old mare won five races on the Nebraska circuit last year for a total of $51, 832.
* A nine-race card with good-sized fields and the popular Red Cross Chili-Cook-off should attract many fans to today's races. The cook-off starts at 11:30 a.m. in the Fonner Park concourse, while the second day of racing begins with a first race posttime of 1:30 p.m.
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