Cedartown steps up for Louisiana Stakes

NEW ORLEANS – In early June, Mike Stidham was training an unraced 3-year-old maiden for Godolphin named Cedartown.

Seven months later, Stidham hopes – not wildly dreams, but legitimately hopes – Cedartown can be a horse for the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap here in March.

“We think he’s a developing star,” Stidham said this week.

Cedartown aced his stakes debut, winning the $200,000 Zia Park Derby on Nov. 22 in his most recent start. On Saturday, he faces older stakes horses, including likely favorite The Player, in the $75,000 Louisiana, the last of six stakes on Road to the Derby Kickoff Day at Fair Grounds.

Cedartown, who has post 4 and Joe Bravo named to ride for the first time, is one of 12 entered in the 1 1/16-mile Louisiana, but 11 at most will start, with Dazzling Gem racing Friday at Oaklawn, according to trainer Brad Cox, who still has Leofric for the Louisiana.

While Cedartown steps up from 3-year-old restricted competition, The Player is down in class after finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Clark on Nov. 24. The Player has worked steadily since arriving at Fair Grounds in early December, and trainer Buff Bradley expects a representative effort.

“He’s been settled in nicely here, but wherever he goes he’s pretty well relaxed,” Bradley said.

The Player long has flashed ability but didn’t win his first graded stakes until October, when he won the Grade 2 Fayette over 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy Keeneland strip.

“The Fayette, that was his distance tester,” Bradley said. “That race got me excited. We always thought he was a nice horse, but that made me think he could be a really good horse.”

Bradley thinks The Player, for whatever reason, never got comfortable in the Clark; alternatively, the horse is not quite up to Grade 1 snuff. Time will tell, and we will see Saturday whether he can handle Cedartown.

Cedartown, by Candy Ride, ran all right in two sprints to start his career last summer, but really started making progress when he was stretched to two turns. In the Zia Park Derby, he had just edged to the lead past the three-eighths pole when a horse swooped past him on the outside. Caught between rivals, Cedartown continued on undaunted and won going away.

“He’s a late-maturing horse who came to us late. We gave him time to get over some minor stuff. We had to be patient with him, but he’s gotten through that, and now it’s paying off,” Stidham said.

Hawaakom won this race a year ago but now starts for the first time since Sept. 4 after losing his form. Owner-trainer Wes Hawley said this week that Hawaakom has worked strongly enough to be competitive after his layoff, and trainer Paul McGee feels the same way about December Seven, who looked like a New Orleans Handicap player at this time last year before going off track. The race also includes the one-two finishers from last month’s Tenacious Stakes, Cooptado and Shut the Box. Both are facing a deeper, more talented cast Saturday.

Maker strong in Bradley

It will come as no surprise to anyone with even a passing knowledge of Midwest turf-stakes racing to find trainer Mike Maker well represented in the $125,000 Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes.

The Bradley, which lost its Grade 3 status this season, has 10 entrants, and Maker trains three – Special Ops, Galton, and Granny’s Kitten.

Special Ops is the most appealing of the trio, and when last seen Dec. 2 at Gulfstream, he turned in a career-best performance winning the Claiming Crown Emerald with a furious sustained rally into a slow pace.

Like so many of Maker’s recent turf-stakes performers, Special Ops came into his barn via a high-end claim, with owner Skychai Racing paying $50,000 for Special Ops last June at Churchill Downs. Special Ops showed an affinity for the Fair Grounds course last season, and if he can finish with the same energy Saturday he showed at Gulfstream, he can win at a fair price.

Galton and Tower of Texas were the respective two-three finishers Dec. 16 in the Grade 3 Tropical Turf at Gulfstream, but both are suspect at anything beyond one mile, and the Bradley is contested at 1 1/16 miles.

The race lacks pace, and one can expect to see Monster Bea on or near the lead. Monster Bea has lost 10 straight races but has found his better form again recently, and a last-start front-end trip was no accident.

“That was intentional,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He’s an extremely tough horse to ride. He gets himself in trouble all the time. I’d be surprised to see him very far back Saturday.”

Kenner looks one-horse race

Yockey’s Warrior figures to be the shortest-priced favorite on the entire Saturday card when he starts in the $75,000 Duncan S. Kenner, the first stakes on the program.

Yockey’s Warrior crushed the same sort of field when he won the Thanksgiving Handicap here by five lengths over Chublicious, the 3-1 morning-line second-choice in the Kenner. Trained by Al Stall, who is among several partners that own the horse, Yockey’s Warrior is a 6-year-old with only 14 races, but he has won half of them and is not an unsound animal.

“It hasn’t been his legs at all,” Stall said.

One thing that has troubled Yockey’s Warrior is an impaired airway, but the latest procedure intended to correct that issue has, for the time being at least, worked.

“His air actually is better now than it’s ever been,” Stall said.

And if that’s the case, chalk players can breathe easy.