Amoss has choice for Lecomte Stakes

Tom Amoss will have a 3-year-old in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds – that he knows. But whether that horse is Mo Tom or Harlan Punch won’t be decided until later this week, Amoss said Monday.

Mo Tom, whose close third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes took on a new shine when the race’s runner-up, Mor Spirit, returned to win the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 19, worked five furlongs in a bullet 1:00 on Monday, his strongest workout since he began training at Fair Grounds in December. Mo Tom, Amoss said, worked behind two other horses.

“He did fine,” Amoss said. “He worked five lengths faster than he did last time. The track was a little slow today.”

Mo Tom, by Uncle Mo, rallied from 12th in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs to finish 1 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Airoforce, and just a head behind Mor Spirit.

Harlan Punch, meanwhile, ran the best race of his three-start career to finish third, beaten five lengths by the victorious Exaggerator, in the $1 million Delta Jackpot last out. Harlan Punch worked last Thursday and will breeze again this Thursday. Entries for the Lecomte and all of the other Jan. 16 races are to be taken this Friday.

“We’re undecided on both horses,” Amoss said. “One will run in the Lecomte, but not both. I’ve got some conversations ahead of me with owners.”

Tom’s Ready, owned, like Mo Tom, by G M B Racing, now is a confirmed runner in the Lecomte, said trainer Dallas Stewart, who had contemplated running Tom’s Ready in a first-level allowance race after the colt was beaten a neck in a two-turn race at that class level Dec. 18 at Fair Grounds. Tom’s Ready ran below form in the Kentucky Jockey Club, finishing eighth over a sloppy track, before rebounding at Fair Grounds.

“I thought he ran a good enough race, a credible race last time, and I think he’s going to like the little bit of extra distance,” said Stewart, who sent Tom’s Ready through a half-mile work in 49 seconds Saturday. “He’s doing well.”

The horse who edged Tom’s Ready, Pinnacle Peak, also is an intended Lecomte starter after his connections decided not to enter a Delta Downs stakes race this week. His trainer, Mike Stidham, also plans to start the two-turn Fair Grounds maiden winner Noble Thought in the race.

Also expected to run is Dolphus, who was third in that Dec. 19 allowance race and worked a half-mile Saturday, and Fish Trappe Road, a talented New York-bred who worked six furlongs in 1:13.40 on Monday for trainer Bret Calhoun.

Stageplay to Silverbulletday

The $125,000 Silverbulletday Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Jan. 16 has found its likely favorite in Stageplay. A winner in her first two starts but second to Carina Mia as the favorite in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes last out at Churchill, Stageplay worked five furlongs in a bullet 1:01.20 on Sunday at Fair Grounds.

“She came out of yesterday’s work in great shape, I spoke with [owner Mike] Rutherford, and we plan on running,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Stageplay beat Carina Mia in a Keeneland sprint in October but was beaten 4 1/2 lengths by her after chasing all the way on a sloppy track in the Golden Rod.

“She’s a very talented filly,” Asmussen said. “I did not expect to get beat in the Golden Rod.”

Others mentioned as possible Silverbulletday starters are Northwest Tale, Lovable Lyss, Bella Flor, Jet Black Magic, More Than Most, Banner Waving, and Twirl Girl.

Asmussen also has plans for Bayerd, who won the off-the-turf Bonapaw Stakes on Saturday by a length over Attain, earning an 86 Beyer Speed Figure. If all goes well, Bayerd, who won Saturday for the first time in more than a year, will start Jan. 30 at Oaklawn Park in the King Cotton Stakes.

“I was glad to have him back in the winner’s circle,” Asmussen said.

Eagle to Louisiana Stakes

Trainer Neil Howard and owner and breeder Will Farish weighed waiting for the Mineshaft Stakes next month with their developing 4-year-old Eagle, but Howard said Monday that Eagle is a likely runner Jan. 16 in the $75,000 Louisiana Stakes.

“Right now, I think we’re planning on running,” Howard said. “If the horse is doing well and you have a race that’s suitable, sometimes you’re better off running than training, training, training.”

Eagle went to the sidelines last January and returned to racing in September, and after a solid sprint comeback, he’s won three route races in a row, most recently capturing the Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was in the saddle Monday for a five-furlong workout in 1:01.40.

Surface switch again Thursday?

The highest-class races on Thursday’s card, a second-level filly-and-mare sprint race and a high-end mile for Louisiana-breds, both are carded for turf, but the Fair Grounds grass course might once again be unsuitable for racing. New Orleans is mired in a very wet spell, and wet conditions have moved turf races to dirt for the last seven racing days at Fair Grounds. Showers were again forecast Wednesday night into Thursday, jeopardizing another day’s races.

The filly-and-mare sprint, race 2, has plenty of talented dirt runners in Im a Looker, Thoughtless, and Harbour Island, and the Louisiana-bred allowance would come through a surface switch in good shape, too, with the likes of One King’s Man, Galveston Harbor, and Stormdriver among the entrants.