Cara Marie won’t mind soft turf in Ta Wee

Maybe, just maybe, there will be turf racing Friday at rain-soaked Indiana Grand, and that would be welcome news with two turf stakes as part of a good 11-race card.

The featured ninth is the $100,000 Ta Wee around two turns at one mile for 3-year-old fillies. Race 7 is the $75,000 Brandywine, a turf sprint for older fillies and mares.

:: Bet Indiana Grand with DRF Bets. Get up to a $500 cash bonus! Find out more today.

Central Indiana has been caught in a historically wet period the last several weeks, much to the detriment of the turf racing program at Indiana Grand, which hasn’t hosted a grass race since June 24. But after more rain Monday, decent drying conditions midweek might allow for the Friday stakes to stay on grass.

But after so much rain during so prolonged a period, the turf course almost certainly will be something softer than firm. Trainer Kellyn Gorder, who sends out Cara Marie in the Ta Wee, hopes it doesn’t matter. Cara Marie impressively won the $75,000 Indy Star last month at Indiana Grand, and her solid fourth-place finish over a soft Keeneland course two starts ago suggests to Gorder that give in the ground won’t be an issue.

Gorder said he only ran the filly in that 9 1/2-furlong Keeneland race because Cara Marie didn’t get into a shorter race while coming back from a layoff of about four months.

“The race at Keeneland was a little far for her, but she ran a real creditable race,” said Gorder, who sent out the second-place finisher in the Ta Wee last year and the fourth-place finisher in 2013. “I’m not worried about the condition of the turf, and I’m happy with the way she’s going into the race.”

Cara Marie set a fast pace and led throughout the Indy Star, and while on paper there is plenty of other early speed in the Ta Wee, Gorder feels confident that Cara Marie won’t be unhappy rating behind a rival or two. “She’s breezed in company when I’ve had her sitting on a horse’s hip, and she seems to relax well that way,” he said.

Mizz Money chased Cara Marie throughout the Indy Star and wound up second by two lengths, and she might simply not be Cara Marie’s equal at this point. The main danger to Cara Marie could prove to be Bugle, who has a versatile stalking style and enters the Ta Wee in what appears to be peak form. She was a closing second while facing older first-level allowance horses two back at Churchill and won an age-restricted allowance race in her most recent start.

A full field of 12 was entered, with two more horses on the also-eligible list. Tiger Ride, whose close fourth in the Florida Oaks suggests she could win Friday, drew poorly in post 12 and was cross-entered by trainer Graham Motion in Saturday’s Indiana Oaks on dirt.

The five-furlong Brandywine is packed with speed, and if both start, Richies Sweetheart and Gift Receipt seem bound for a taxing early duel. The two candidates most likely to take advantage of such a race shape are Fleet Encounter, who easily won her Indiana Grand turf debut last out, and Gal About Town, who beat just four foes in winning a high-end Churchill turf-sprint allowance in her most recent start.