by Keith Gisser, for Northfield Park

Northfield, OH — Northfield’s first major stake of the season, the $100,000 (est.) Courageous Lady for 3-year-old pacing fillies, is scheduled for Saturday, April 30, and 26 fillies have been nominated to the race honoring the great pacing mare Courageous Lady and her owner, Ruth Cohen.

Among those eligible for the 21st edition of the race (formerly known as the Lady Catskill and raced at Monticello Raceway) are two supplemental entries, Hi Maintenancechic and OK Dynasty. Their connections paid $2,000 each to make them eligible to the race after not being originally staked.

Although now competing at Woodbine for new connections, OK Dynasty was a half-mile track specialist at two, winning in 1:57.2 over the Saratoga Harness oval, while John Devito’s Hi Maintenancechic posted three wins in seven starts in 2010, taking a lifetime mark of 1:53.1 at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

Other early contenders include Reprise Hanover and Sand Starla, both trained by Wall of Fame finalist Tye Loy. Loy currently trains 2010 Courageous Lady champ Sand Windsor and also won a heat of the race in 2009 with Sand-E-Fiftyfive.

Courageous Lady entries are due Wednesday, April 27, at 9 a.m.

Northfield Park is now racing a four night a week schedule, featuring live racing Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings with a 7 p.m. (EST) first-race post.