Brazen Persuasion a question mark following long layoff

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brazen Persuasion is more than the classiest of seven fillies entered in the ninth race at Churchill Downs, a third-level optional $80,000 claiming race at seven furlongs. She is also the fastest.

A dead-heat winner of the Grade 3 Schuylerville last year at Saratoga as a juvenile, Brazen Persuasion also has run the highest Beyer Speed Figure in the race, a 93, posted in winning an allowance at Churchill this past spring.

What she lacks is a recent start, not having competed since that May 2 race. Shortly thereafter, she had surgery for a breathing problem, an entrapped epiglottis, and was given time to recover, trainer Al Stall Jr. said.

Having breezed regularly since Aug. 14, Brazen Persuasion has been ready to run since late September, but until Thursday, no suitable allowances have filled in Kentucky over the past month, Stall said.

One of the challenges facing Brazen Persuasion is her inside post. Last year, she refused to break in the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga when starting from the rail – highly irregular for a horse trained by Steve Asmussen, who raced her in 2013.

“Knock on wood, she’s been schooling like a bullet out of the gate,” Stall said.

Shaun Bridgmohan rides Brazen Persuasion, a 3-year-old Indian Charlie filly owned by Bugle Hill Racing Partnership.

Race 9

KEY CONTENDERS

Flashy Campaign (Last 3 Beyers: 74-62-82)

◗ Should appreciate the move into an allowance after going unplaced in a pair of $100,000 stakes this summer; fourth in her lone appearance at Churchill in the spring with an 82 Beyer, her best of 2014.

Springsteen Road (Last 3 Beyers: 82-76-58)

◗ She is back on her game, winning two straight this summer in first- and second-level allowances at Arlington. Although those two wins came on Polytrack, she also won a maiden race on dirt at Oaklawn in February.

Hitechnoweenie (Last 3 Beyers: 71-81-85)

◗ Never got out of the rear half of the pack when returning from a layoff in a turf allowance on soft going at Keeneland – conditions she may not have liked. She won the Panthers Stakes at Prairie Meadows last year on dirt and won an allowance at Churchill in 2013; twice hit the board in two starts this year before her last-race turf failure.

Brazen Persuasion (Last 3 Beyers: 93-NA-72)

◗ Although Stall seems encouraged by how she has done since corrective breathing surgery, sometimes horses with breathing problems have recurring setbacks.