Arklow auditions for Mervin Muniz Handicap

Synchrony established himself as the best turf horse at Fair Grounds this winter with an electrifying win Feb. 17 in the Fair Grounds Handicap, his first start since last May. In the featured ninth race at Fair Grounds on Saturday, Arklow will make his first start since Aug. 4 and will try to stake his claim as Synchrony’s rival in the March 24 Mervin Muniz Handicap.

Arklow is one of 12 entrants – 11 in the field’s main body, and Rocky Tough as a main-track-only offering – in a second-level allowance race carded for about 1 1/16 miles on turf and also open to $40,000 claimers. The local forecast calls for a decent chance of rain late this week, and it’s possible the race could be moved to dirt.

That wouldn’t be the end of Arklow, who ran well enough last winter on the Fair Grounds main track to finish a close fourth in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes. But Arklow made his big move forward last spring when his connections, Donegal Racing and trainer Brad Cox, switched the colt to turf. Arklow scored an eye-catching Keeneland maiden win in April and backed it up in May with a one-length win over Good Samaritan in the Grade 2 American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

No sooner had Arklow found the right surface than he lost his form. Arklow finished 11th in the Belmont Derby and seventh in the Hall of Fame Stakes, and then went on an extended vacation. Arklow has been working steadily since mid-January, and there are few barns with higher long-layoff win percentages from a decent-sized sample than Cox’s. Arklow, who breaks from the rail and will have Florent Geroux in the irons, probably wants a little more distance than he gets Saturday, but that might not matter .

There are a couple of class-droppers in the race with form to contend, but the other interesting horse is Turf Titan, who is marooned out in post 12. Turf Titan was being trained off owner Brad Kelley’s Calumet Farm by Jose Fernandez during a productive and encouraging five-race 2017 campaign, and if a trip can be worked out from this poor draw, he might have a chance at an upset.

The featured ninth is the last of four allowance races on the card. Race 7, a turf sprint restricted to females, will otherwise be run under the same conditions as the featured ninth.