Brazen Persuasion shortens up for featured dirt sprint

With five allowance races and a 2-year-old turf-route maiden special weight on the schedule, it’s fair to say the Friday card at Fair Grounds came together quite nicely.

Anchoring the program is race 7, a high-end dirt sprint for fillies and mares that is a third-level allowance also open to $62,500 claimers.

Race 7

Key contenders

Brazen Persuasion (Last 3 Beyers: 77-93-N/A)

* Talented but mercurial. She won the Grade 3 Schuylerville as a 2-year-old two summers ago at Saratoga. A race later, she refused to break from the gate in the Grade 1 Spinaway and didn’t start again for nine months.

* After a trainer change from Steve Asmussen to Al Stall, her comeback race was strong, an easy second-level allowance win at Churchill that produced a 93 Beyer. But Brazen Persuasion, Stall said, required throat surgery to correct a breathing problem following that May start.

* Back in action Oct. 30 at Churchill, she broke a touch slow from the rail, set the pace, and was passed late to finish second in a seven-furlong race at this class level.

“She missed 60 days of training, didn’t even go to the track, and having the rail going seven-eighths last time, we’re just assuming she needed that race,” Stall said.

Table Three Ten (Last 3 Beyers: 81-82-80)

* Won her career debut at Fair Grounds three years ago by more than five lengths for trainer Mike Stidham, was sold to Team Valor International, and left the Stidham barn. This fall, having failed to break through with a stakes win for two other trainers following her sale, Table Three Ten wound up back in Stidham’s barn.

“She’s grown up a lot, and she’s a big strong, beautiful-looking mare,” Stidham said.

* Table Three Ten showed speed in her previous start for Stidham but has since lacked early zip and was away slowly again before closing for third in a minor Churchill stakes.

“We’ll see if we can get her to break and get into the race a little bit earlier,” he said.

Race 3

Stidham also has the morning-line favorite, Toutsie Rules, in race 3, an entry-level sprint allowance for 2-year-old fillies. The race could be a stepping-stone to the important 3-year-old filly stakes program at the meet but perhaps not for Toutsie Rules.

Key contenders

Toutsie Rules (Last 3 Beyers: 79)

* Scored a front-running debut victory in a Keeneland sprint, a race off which she’ll be heavily bet Friday.

“She won that race off talent and has a lot of maturing to do,” Stidham said.

* She will be kept to sprints for the foreseeable future and soon could try turf.

“She’s short-coupled, a little bit small,” Stidham said. “We’ll keep her at one turn for the time being.”

Lovely Maria (Last 2 Beyers: 72-60)

* She won her debut at Delaware, then chased the pace and faded slightly to fourth facing allowance foes at Keeneland.

* She has an experience edge on Toutsie Rules and is favorably drawn outside her primary rivals.