Trainer Lilith Boucher will have a potent one-two punch for the $20,000 Block House, the featured race of the 67th annual Block House Races at Sandlin Racecourse in Tryon, N.C., on Saturday, April 20. First post time is 2 p.m. for the four-race program.
Topping her exacta in the 2 1/2-mile optional claiming race is Complete Zen, owned by Why Not Racing. The seven-year-old Cozzene gelding already has two outings this season, including a second in a claiming hurdle at Colonial Downs’ Dogwood Classic on April 6.
Boucher also will saddle Marilyn Ketts’ Flying Friskie, who came back from a long layoff to finish fourth in the $50,000 Georgia Cup for fillies and mares at the Atlanta Steeplechase on April 13. The trainer’s husband, veteran jockey Richard Boucher, was named aboard both entrants.
Boucher’s Block House starters will face stiff opposition in the Block House. Owner-trainer Karen Gray’s Cuse, who made eight official starts last year, won Stoneybrook’s Sandhills Cup and an optional claimer at Virginia Fall. In his 2013 opener, he fell in the $50,000 Budweiser Imperial Cup (Gr. 3) at the Aiken Spring Races on March 23. Gus Dahl has the mount.
Three-time leading owner Irv Naylor will be represented by Organisateur, who has not started since the 2011 Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup (Gr. 1). The Irish-bred’s best finish in the U.S. was a second in that year’s $250,000 Grand National (Gr. 1). Trainer Brianne Slater named Bernie Dalton to ride.
Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard will send out Bill Pape’s Dugan, who finished third in a claiming race in one of his two 2012 starts over fences. Darren Nagle will ride.