Bravo Whiskey flashy in debut win

Who knows what the horse beat, or how many of his foes disliked a sloppy racetrack, but 2-year-old colt Bravo Whiskey sure was visually impressive winning his career debut in Monday's seventh race at Fair Grounds. A Smart Strike colt trained by Neil Howard, Bravo Whiskey raced in midpack before moving up before the quarter pole in the six-furlong race. Once jockey Curt Bourque moved him out for the stretch run, Bravo Whiskey quickly collared the leaders, and came home strongly to win by six lengths.

"He had trained okay," said Howard. "I was fairly optimistic about him, not to a point that I'm saying, 'Yee ha! We're on our way. He's a lovely colt, a lovely-bred colt - a little on the small side."

Howard said sore shins caused him to slow down with Bravo Whiskey over the summer. The colt pretty much was ready to run near the end of the Churchill meet, but Howard decided to take a little more time.

Now, Bravo Whiskey's connections have to decide whether to sprint him once again before trying two turns, or go directly into a route race.

"He looked like he came out of the race good," Howard said Wednesday. "I'm going to walk him under tack one more day, then see what we want to do."