Afternoon Tango stretches out for Magnolia
Afternoon Tango will be making a rare start around two turns Friday night, when she puts her perfect Delta Downs record on the line in the $100,000 Magnolia Stakes. She is part of an eight-horse field that includes recent route-stakes winners Heatseeker Sharon and Flower Lady as well as the win-streaking Jackson’s G G.
The Magnolia, a one-mile race restricted to fillies and mares bred in Louisiana, is expected to produce a number of starters for the Louisiana Champions Day program at Fair Grounds in December. Afternoon Tango is targeting the series, as trainer Patrick Devereux Jr. said the long-range goal with the mare is a defense of her title in the Ladies Sprint.
But for the immediate future, two turns await the 5-year-old Afternoon Tango. A nine-time winner, she has compiled a 3-for-3 record at Delta.
“This is our second experiment at two turns,” Devereux said. “She had a good excuse when she was a 3-year-old. I ran her back quick off her second or third win, and if you look at her form, you have to space her races. You have to give her the benefit of the doubt here. The fact that her favorite track is Delta, it led us to try it [again].”
Afternoon Tango, who races for Big Aut Farms, will break from the rail under Donnie Meche.
“I would expect her to lay close,” said Devereux.
Flower Lady won the $75,000 Louisiana Cup Distaff on turf at Louisiana Downs in her most recent out Aug. 8. She is a two-time winner at Delta. Trainer Ricky Courville has given the mount to Jose Riquelme.
Heatseeker Sharon is getting back to dirt, the surface on which she won the $100,000 Louisiana Legends Distaff at Evangeline, after chasing Flower Lady in the Louisiana Cup Distaff.
Jackson’s G G has won her last three starts in a streak that started in February at Delta.
Jackpot pre-entries on Nov. 10
Pre-entries for the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot on Nov. 21 are to be taken Nov. 10. Nominations for the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds closed last Saturday, and 191 horses were made eligible. The group includes Nyquist, who is entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Saturday at Keeneland. He was one of seven nominees from trainer Doug O’Neill, who won the Jackpot in 2012 with Goldencents.