Bron and Brow a slam dunk in Louisiana Futurity

Bron and Brow likely was the best horse when he finished second Dec. 11 in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile, and with any racing luck Friday at Fair Grounds he’ll be second to none in the colts and geldings division of the Louisiana Futurity.

Bron and Brow is a Louisiana-bred in name only, part of the first crop sired by the Kentucky stallion Gormley and a $200,000 auction purchase by owner Gary Barber this past April. Bron and Brow debuted Nov. 13 at Del Mar, finishing third in an open maiden sprint from which the runner-up returned to air in a Los Alamitos maiden special weight. Bron and Brow, meanwhile, was transferred to trainer Mark Casse at Fair Grounds for a run in the Champions Day Juvenile. There, he found a vast amount of trouble from the half-mile pole nearly to the wire, still closing to finish a half-length behind the victorious favorite, Unified Report, who rates well above average for a Louisiana-bred 2-year-old.

Bron and Brow has a new rider Friday, Adam Beschizza, and Unified Report is not among his rivals. He’s 6-5 on the morning line and could go to post an odds-on favorite.

Dallas Stewart trains Unified Report for owner Murray Valene and that pair has a different horse, Big Scully, to face Bron and Brow. Big Scully hasn’t raced since Sept. 5, when he was sixth of 11 in the Grade 1 Hopeful, that ambitious spot coming after a restricted maiden victory 18 days earlier. Big Scully has worked steadily for this start since mid-November, but might not be good enough to handle Bron and Brow.

Rail-drawn speed Charco, third in the Champions Day Juvenile, is the other logical win contender.

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The colts and geldings division of the Futurity goes as race 5 while the fillies division closes out Friday’s nine-race card. This is the more chaotic-feeling race of the two and if Free Like a Girl goes off at something like her 2-1 morning-line odds she seems worth playing against. Free Like a Girl won Louisiana stakes races in September, October, and November, but finished second as the 2-1 favorite in the Champions Day Lassie and might be on the downside of a form-cycle peak.

Won Day, a speedy filly who finished a decent fifth making just her second career start in the Lassie, and debut winner A G’s Charlotte hold the most upset appeal.

The Friday program includes two open female-restricted allowance races, a dirt route in race 7 and a turf sprint in race 6. The turf sprint marks a return to racing for Ready for Change, unraced since August and a 11 1/2-length debut winner last January at Fair Grounds.

Ready for Change’s two victories came on dirt and she finished eighth during the Keeneland spring meet in her lone turf try, but the Neil Pessin-trained filly has a decidedly grass-leaning pedigree and probably is far more capable on grass than the Keeneland race suggests.