Allowance feature a possible path to Fair Grounds Oaks

NEW ORLEANS – If you were the connections of a 3-year-old filly that won the featured ninth race Friday at Fair Grounds and looked good doing it, you might consider running back March 26 in the Fair Grounds Oaks.

Dallas Stewart, who trains Sequist for West Point Thoroughbreds and Gervais Racing, has not discounted such a scenario.

“Hopefully she runs like we hope and can get to the Fair Grounds Oaks,” Stewart said Wednesday morning.

It’s not a pipe dream. After winning a five-furlong Colonial Downs maiden race in her career debut last summer, Sequist tried three Grade 1s, and while she failed to come close to winning the Spinaway, the Frizette, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Sequist showed enough flashes of ability in those races to hint at better things to come this season.

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“She’s training very well and has been ready for a while,” Stewart said.

Sequist, following a freshening off her fifth-place finish in the BC Juvenile Fillies, posted her first work this winter on Dec. 22 and has since kept to a steady breeze schedule. Her final drill for her 3-year-old debut came in the form of a 48-second half-mile on Feb. 7, second fastest of 91 works at the distance.

Sequist, Brian Hernandez Jr. named to ride, drew the outside post in a field of eight set to race 1 1/16 miles on dirt, and she is far from the only win candidate.

Bernabreezy drops into allowance competition after a loom-and-fade third here Jan. 22 in the Silverbulletday Stakes, won by La Crete in front-running fashion. Coming off an eye-catching dirt-route maiden win, Bernabreezy stalked the pace and came to the quarter pole of the Silverbulletday with all the momentum, but after diving inside in upper stretch, she flattened out.

“I thought the rail was kind of dead that day,” said trainer Matt Shirer. “For some reason, she was a little less settled early in that race than she had been.”

Shirer said he changed bits to give Bernabreezy’s rider more control, and the filly responded with encouraging works since her last run. “I really like her,” Shirer said.

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Some sort of case could be made for Hazy Command, Mariah’s Fortune, and Waterworks, but likely more capable than those three is Bird Empress, who broke through Jan. 13 with a sharp third-start maiden route win at Fair Grounds. Her second race and first time trying a route, Bird Empress lost all chance with a poor start, and trainer Norm Casse said his barn worked between races on getting the filly off to a cleaner break.

“I’m just excited to see her run again and see where she takes us next,” Casse said.

The Fair Grounds Oaks could be one possibility.