Any of five entrants eligible to win high-class Fair Grounds sprint

The Fair Grounds racing office allowed a conditioned dirt-sprint allowance race onto the Friday card with just five entrants – and for good reason.

The small field contains a wide swath of talent, and, really, any among the quintet could win.

“I like my draw and the horse is coming into the race really well, but there’s no doubt the water is getting deeper for him here,” said Bret Calhoun, who trains Autodrive, unbeaten in three starts coming into Friday’s third-race feature. “We’re going to find out something about the horse.”

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Autodrive has post 4 and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who piloted Autodrive to a 1 3/4-length tally Jan. 15 at Fair Grounds in a second-level allowance over this same six-furlong trip. The margin of victory to some extent belies Autodrive’s superiority on the day: After stalking the pace while racing in the clear, Autodrive whipped to the lead with a flashy run from the quarter pole to the furlong grounds, putting the race to bed well before the finish. Autodrive, a 4-year-old Mo Town gelding, only debuted in October, winning a Remington Park maiden by more than eight lengths before defeating first-level Fair Grounds allowance foes in an off-turf sprint.

“All his races he’s won easily – run fast, geared down late,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun entered Autodrive in the Feb. 14 Colonel Power Stakes hoping the race would rain off turf and onto dirt and scratched the gelding when the Colonel Power stayed on grass. The connections of 4-year-old Built also might have preferred a rain-off, but Built remained in the Colonel Power finishing a close and somewhat troubled fifth in his grass debut.

Trainer Wayne Catalano believes Built “should have won” the Colonel Power with better luck, but while he did hit traffic in deep stretch, Built wasn’t obviously traveling like a winner when he did. Regardless, Built turned in a creditable performance while improving upon his winning long-layoff comeback in mid-December and has upside returning to his preferred surface for the third start of this form cycle.

“He worked super for this race, schooled perfect. The race should set up for him,” Catalano said.

Built breaks from post 2 under Jareth Loveberry, and with speedy 7-year-old Old Homestead – who’s not an impossible wire-to-wire threat – drawn on the rail, Built should slide over to the fence and save ground behind a fast pace. Maximum Bourbon is likely to keep the pressure on Old Homestead while looking for his third win during the Fair Grounds meet. While he did prove comfortably best Feb. 14 in a second-level allowance score, Maximum Bourbon rode the front-favoring flow of the Fair Grounds racing surface.

Red State figures fourth choice in the win pool, and, he, too, merits respect despite ending his most recent form cycle last summer with a pair of stinkers. Red State won two straight allowance races about a year ago at Oaklawn, where he has been working smartly for his first start in more than seven months. Leading Fair Grounds rider Jose Ortiz takes the call on Red State, who should get a clean stalking trip from his outside draw in this high-level and engaging Friday feature.

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