FAIR GROUNDS NOTEBOOK
FEBRUARY 28, 2008
by Steve Collison
Louisiana Derby Day
Louisiana Derby Day is the richest day of racing ever in Louisiana, with six
stakes offering $2.3 million in purses. The headline event of the afternoon is
the $600,000 Louisiana Derby (G2) for three-year-olds. Three other Grade 2 stakes
are on the Derby Day schedule: the $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks for three-year-old
fillies, the $500,000 New Orleans H. for older horses on dirt and the
$500,000 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial H. for older horses on turf.
Rounding out the stakes schedule is a pair of sprints: the Duncan F. Kenner
S., which offers a $200,000 purse, and the $100,000 Bienville S. for fillies and mares on turf.
Speaking of the Derby, Pyro (Pulpit), the likely favorite was drawing rave
reviews after breezing a bullet six furlongs Monday morning. One of the early
favorites for this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) continues to impress and his stock
remains high following his explosive stretch run Risen Star (G3) victory
on February 9. This horse appears to be growing daily both mentally as well as
physically and is taking on the look of the real thing.
On Saturday, CANDY BALL (Lemon Drop Kid) took the lead from the start, made
the pace before drawing off late to capture the $150,000 Bayou H. for
fillies and mares. Under a well-judged ride by Peruvian jockey Miguel Mena, the
six-year-old mare set soft early fractions of :24.94 and :49.75. She was 3 1/2
lengths in front at the wire and covered the mile and an eighth in 1:52.21. The
race was carded for the turf but transferred to a fast main track after heavy
rain the last two days.
“I knew I had plenty of horse turning for home after those early fractions,” the 21-year-old
said. “At the quarter-pole I asked her to run and she ran huge. She was really
very comfortable and relaxed for me all the way. I couldn’t have asked for
anything better.”
Trained by Andrew Leggio Jr., Candy Ball increased her career earnings to
$271,075 after winning her seventh career race from 19 lifetime starts.
With just 16 days left in this year’s season, veteran jockey
Jamie Theriot continues to lead the rider’s standings with 78 tallies to his
credit. On Sunday, Theriot took another huge step toward securing that title
when adding three more to that total. Among his scores, he took the featured
allowance event over the lawn with WISE RIVER (Belong to Me) after that
five-year-old romped home over a yielding turf course going 7 1/2 furlongs in
1:33.83. Earlier, he won the 5TH race aboard EXTRA EXCLUSIVE (Awesome Again)
and the 7TH on TEARS I CRY (Chester House), both for trainer Cody Autrey.
Theriot now has nine more wins than six-time Fair Grounds leading rider Robby
Albarado, who is making it easy as he’ll be in Dubai to ride Curlin (Smart
Strike) this week in his four-year-old seasonal debut.
TRAINER PROFILE
Despite winning the Bayou with Candy Ball this past Saturday, ANDREW LEGGIO is one of the better kept secrets at the Fair
Grounds. Although he sports
consistently solid numbers he’s frequently overshadowed by the bigger names who
ship in annually for this historic winter meet. Nonetheless, Leggio still wins
at more than 20 percent with all of his runners over the dirt while showing an
overall positive rate of return on a $2 bet. That’s quite an accomplishment that few
of his more heralded comrades can claim. And to take that stat up a notch, he
does even better when that percentage is limited to just colt which provides an
excellent starting point when evaluating the potential playability of his
runners. This stable is also one of a select few that excels with their middle
distance runners hitting an excellent 30 percent. One pattern to monitor as it
represents great success is when this outfit drops a runner down in class while
making a second attempt at going two turns. This pattern has produced many happy
returns over the years and is often easy to miss as good recent form isn’t
always an issue.
RECENT CLAIMS TO WATCH
Thursday (2/21)
4TH — LOVE ANTE (Upping the Ante), after sprinting the last couple of times out, stretched back out today and
the six-year-old mare obviously does much better
going added ground. Was claimed for a nickel by trainer Francis Melancon, who
doesn’t set the world on fire but can get the job done.
10TH — COREY’S RED BOY (Forty Won) has shown solid improvement since adding
Lasix to his arsenal and turned in another encouraging performance today.
Managed to run fourth despite still racing somewhat greenly and should be a
useful commodity for new trainer James Counts.
Friday (2/22)
3RD — BEN’S DR. DAN (Irish Bluff) showed little today going first time
off the claim for Autrey, but was immediately taken back after just one race
by the astute Michael Terre, who isn’t one to sentimentalize over previous
runners. And he in fact looks to have the keys to this gelding’s success and can
win first time out with the claim back at inflated odds due to what is now poor
recent form.
4TH — VERITASERUM (Yes It’s True) turned in an improved
performance today after getting his blinkers taken off by trainer Eddie
Johnston. Unfortunately for Johnston now that he’s found the key to waking this
underachiever up, he’ll be sleeping in the barn of new trainer Steve Asmussen who
took this colt for himself.
Sunday (2/24)
1ST — INVISIBLE FORCE (Include) doesn’t have anything monumental or glamorous
to boast about, but he goes out and tries every time no matter the
circumstances. He’s a blue-collar type runner who was claimed today by trainer
Alvin Sidler and can win right back at this $25,000 level or even up slightly.
HORSES TO WATCH
Thursday (2/21)
2ND — MAJESTIC SWAIN (Swain [Ire]), after breaking his maiden last out at the
tender age of five, moved up in company to once again run extremely
well despite his running style being compromised by chasing a lone front runner
over a speed-favoring sloppy track.
5TH — DEGA PAPILLION (Gold Tribute) is running in good
form right now although is clearly overmatched going against allowance runners.
When trainer Mike Burgess realizes this and drops him back to the claiming ranks,
the three-year-old colt will see the winner’s circle once again.
8TH — TIGER STRIKE (Volponi), a lightly raced three-year-old gelding, was clearly
out of his element when going two turns but now seems to have found his stride
after cutting back to sprint today.
Sunday (2/24)
1ST — TRACK RECORD (Elusive Quality), an expensively bred three-year-old gelding, could also be on the
“beware list” as he certainly has physical problems that
are highlighted by having front bandages for the first time last out followed by
drop down to claiming ranks this time. Fortunately, we’re not buying this horse
but simply looking to cash a bet and that should be possible next time out as he
turned in an encouraging performance after running into more then his fair share
of traffic trouble. Would only give him one shot though as can’t believe he’ll
be around for much longer then that.
6TH — HIGH TONED (Zarbyev) moved at the same time the favorite Kat’s
Court (Twilight Agenda) did and was simply out kicked by a stronger rival.
However still turned in a solid performance going second time off the shelf and
wouldn’t be surprised to see this one in the winner’s circle next out.
BEWARE OF THESE
Friday (2/22)
1ST — LITTLE GULP (Exploit) returned from an extended
14-month sabbatical while dropping substantially in class. She received some
tote support which is understandable considering the plunge in price and managed
to show a solid turn of early speed before backing up through the lane. Most
players will assume she simply got tired and will be ready to move forward with
the added conditioning. That’s possible, but it’s just as likely and more
probable that she’s going to be dropping next out for her swan song before
retreating to the sidelines for good.
1ST — CLASS QUEEN (Mutakddim), after being away for nearly one year, came back last out to win by 11 widening lengths. Despite investing so much time
and money into getting this one back to the track. the Bernie Flint operation
gave her only a token class hike up in class today and she responded with a
predictable last-place finish. So if I see this why did highly respected trainer
Tom Amoss claim her? Stables like Amoss use Speed figures to evaluate potential
claims and frequently will roll the dice at this low level ($16,000 is low for
powerful stables) and take a chance especially considering that she is still
eligible for all her allowance conditions. In this case they might crap out!
Sunday (2/24)
2ND — ON COMMON GROUND (Skywalker) had won three straight yet Autrey was doing everything possible to lose him by continually dropping in
class. Finally got his wish today as was claimed away for reasons not clear
here. Not surprisingly this hard knocker seems to have hit the wall that Autrey
had feared and once they’re tapped out, it’s hard to get ’em going back in right
direction.