Cougar Ridge seeking clean trip in DeBartolo

Trainer Randy Morse is hoping Cougar Ridge gets a clean trip when he returns to the stakes ranks Saturday in the $75,000 Edward J. DeBartolo Memorial Handicap at Remington Park. The horse was hung wide in his most recent start, and before that, he was caught in a rough stretch battle before a disqualification elevated him from fourth to third.

The DeBartolo, for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on turf, drew six horses, though one of them, Gaelico, ran Thursday at Remington. Alamo Heights, the winner of last year’s Prelude at Louisiana Downs, and Fly the Red Eye, who is moving back to turf, a surface over which he is a stakes winner, figure to get good support in the DeBartolo.

The race will share a card with a one-mile allowance for 3-year-olds that could produce starters for next month’s Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby. The allowance field includes Grade 3 Iroquois winner Lucky Player, the stakes winners Hillbilly Royalty and Bad Moon, and the stakes-placed Poseidon’s Way.

Key contenders

Cougar Ridge (Last 3 Beyers: 75-81-80)

* He invades off a close seventh in an optional $50,000 claiming race at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf Aug. 8 at Indiana Grand. He broke from post 10 in that race.

“He had a wide post and got hung wide,” said Morse, who trains Cougar Ridge for Richard Bahde.

* Things were worse one start prior when Cougar Ridge was fourth but placed third after being beaten two lengths in a $25,000 starter allowance at a mile on turf June 13 at Churchill Downs.

“He just about got dropped,” Morse said. “That was horrible. A horse came over [on him] about the sixteenth pole, and he about went down. He’s a tough old horse.”

* Morse said another good quality about Cougar Ridge is his versatility.

“He runs about the same on the dirt or the grass, and you don’t see that very often,” said Morse.

* In April, Cougar Ridge was third by a head to Noble Bird in a Keeneland allowance, and within a few starts, Noble Bird became a Grade 1 winner in the Stephen Foster Handicap.

* C.J. McMahon, coming off winning the riding title at Lone Star Park, has the mount.

Alamo Heights (Last 3 Beyers: 80-85-87)

* He sticks with turf after being an early scratch from the $175,000 Governor’s Cup on the main track last Saturday at Remington.

* Alamo Heights was fourth last out in a quick turf allowance at Lone Star. The winner, Perfect to Please, covered a mile in 1:33.60 and was set to run back Friday at Remington in the Red Earth Stakes.