Brodeur has the pedigree to successfully stretch out

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The promising Brodeur will stretch out to two turns Sunday at Oaklawn Park against a full field of 3-year-olds that includes shippers Handsome Pants and Optical.

The entry-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles carries an optional-claiming price of $200,000.

A field of 11 is set to start, with Brodeur ranking as a leading contender off a maiden special weight win Dec. 14 at Oaklawn. He covered six furlongs in the mud in 1:10.66. The Beyer Speed Figure of 81 he earned is the best last-race number in the field.

Brodeur will be making his first attempt at two turns.

“You never know until you try,” said trainer Mark Casse. “I thought his win was impressive. I think this is a good next step. His pedigree says he can do it, so now he just has to show it.”

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Brodeur is a son of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and the multiple stakes-winning Pulpit mare Tea Time. She has produced two dirt route winners, according to statistics from Daily Racing Form.

“He’s a beautiful horse,” Casse said. “We broke him. He’s a good mover, a classy kind of horse. It didn’t surprise me at all that he ran the way he did. We have had an interrupted training schedule [due to the weather], but I think we’re good to go.”

Isaac Castillo has the mount on Brodeur from post 6 for D. J. Stable.

“I think he’ll be pretty close, he’ll sit fairly close,” said Casse.

Handsome Pants will start from post 7, with Brian Hernandez Jr. in to ride for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Handsome Pants was a debut winner at 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs in September and from there was a troubled eighth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. He has been working toward his first start at 3 at Fair Grounds, most recently going five furlongs in 1:01 on Jan. 20.

Optical is the lone two-time winner in the field and is moving back to the overnight ranks off a 12th-place finish in the Grade 3 Lecomte on Jan. 18 at Fair Grounds. The start was his first on a wet track.

Optical was a 14-length maiden winner at one mile in September at Churchill and won at that same one-turn distance again in November. Rafael Bejarano has the mount from post 5 for trainer Keith Desormeaux.

Curvino was a maiden winner at 1 1/16 miles last out at Oaklawn. Prior to that, he was fifth to eventual graded stakes winner Journalism in a maiden race at Del Mar. Francisco Arrieta has the mount from post 9 for trainer Peter Miller.

Big Much must overcome post 11, but finished in front of some of these last out when third in a first-level allowance at a mile Dec. 29 at Oaklawn.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.