Broberg has solid pair in Evangeline Turf Sprint

Quick Dagger and Snappy Girl will be going for the hottest barn on the grounds Saturday when they run in the $300,000 Evangeline Downs Turf Sprint. Karl Broberg, who trains both horses, is winning races at a 54 percent clip at the Opelousas, La., track. He is the leading trainer, with 42 wins from 78 starts through Tuesday. Broberg also ranks as the leading trainer in wins in North America, and his success at Evangeline is fueling his total of 161 wins in 2015.

“The meet’s just been incredible,” Broberg said. “We’ve been lucky in the claim box getting the ones that we need to get. We’ve been able to run through a lot of conditions. It’s just been clicking. I have to give credit to my assistant, Abel Ramirez. Abel’s been with me since I started. This is his first meet down at Evangeline. We moved him from Lone Star to the Evangeline and Delta Downs circuit for us, and it’s reaped immediate benefits.”

Quick Dagger will enter the Evangeline Turf Sprint off a dead-heat finish for second in the local prep, the $60,000 Need For Speed on May 2. The race was his second for the barn since being claimed for $40,000 in March at Fair Grounds.

“I claimed him specifically dreaming of this spot,” Broberg said of the richest race at Evangeline. “I love five-eighths grass horses, and this horse really ran good at the Fair Grounds meet.”

Snappy Girl was third in last year’s Evangeline Turf Sprint, which Broberg won with former charge Heitai. She will enter this year’s renewal off a third-place finish in the $60,000 Tellike on May 1 at Evangeline. The start was her first since an uncharacteristic seventh in the $100,000 Premier Night Matron at Delta Downs.

“She’s training great,” Broberg said. “The last race, she hopped at the start, and you just have to draw a line through it, and she didn’t like Delta. She loves Evangeline. She gets good at Evangeline. She’s done it now for a couple of years.”

The Evangeline Turf Sprint will go as the eighth race on a card that has a special twilight post of 3:05 p.m. Central. There will be an all-stakes pick four that has a $100,000-guaranteed pool. The sequence runs on races 5-8.

Power Alert rerouted to Jaipur

Power Alert, the morning-line favorite for the Evangeline Turf Sprint, will not run, trainer Brian Lynch said Wednesday. Lynch said rain at Evangeline and the forecast for more has led to a change in plans. Lynch said Power Alert now is being pointed for the Grade 3, $300,000 Jaipur Invitational on June 6 at Belmont Park.

Lynch said Power Alert does not handle soft turf. He said the horse was to ship Thursday from Keeneland to Belmont.

Heitai, the probable favorite in the Turf Sprint, arrived Wednesday morning at Evangeline, said trainer Tom Amoss.

The forecast for Saturday is a high of 84 degrees and a 60 percent chance of precipitation, according to The Weather Channel.

Only in America set for Mile

Sunbean will not defend his title in the $100,000 Evangeline Mile on Saturday, but his connections, Brittlyn Stable and trainer Ron Faucheux, have a capable new prospect for the race in Only in America. He will be making his first start for the barn after being privately purchased following a win in an optional $62,500 claiming route Oct. 8 at Keeneland.

“We gave him a little time, and then I’ve had him probably about 2 1/2, three months, training him right into this race,” said Faucheux. “He’s a very classy horse. I think he should be fit to go. There’s nothing like a race, but we’ve put some six-furlong works in him, one very sharp from the gate at Evangeline.”

The drill in 1:11.60 was the bullet May 2.

Sunbean came out of his last start, a third-place finish in the $200,000 Premier Night Championship in February at Delta Downs, with an injury and is targeting a return to racing during the Fair Grounds meet, said Faucheux.