Cedartown moves closer to New Orleans Handicap

Cedartown won his second stakes in a row, taking the $75,000 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday by 2 lengths and taking another step toward his connections' goal of getting to the New Orleans Handicap.

Cedartown, who swooped past favored The Player at the top of the stretch, beat Scuba by two lengths and ran 1 1/16 miles on dirt in 1:44.18, earning a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. In his previous race, he had gotten a 96 Beyer winning the Zia Park Derby by 1 3/4 lengths over Untrapped.

Cedartown, a Godolphin-owned 4-year-old by Candy Ride, didn’t debut until June, and won for the first time in his third start when he was stretched from sprints to a route. It was his Sept. 9 first-level allowance at Delaware Park that really caught trainer Mike Stidham’s eye. Cedartown was second by two lengths in that race, but battled head and head through the homestretch with a horse named Dr. Blarney, a 10-time winner of multiple Massachusetts-bred stakes who still was eligible to the open allowance condition.

Cedartown, Stidham said, came out of his Louisiana Stakes win in good condition. His connections are pointing backward from the New Orleans Handicap, and it’s yet to be determined whether Cedartown will come back in the Mineshaft Handicap on Feb. 17, though it’s more likely than not he will show up in that race.