Delta Downs notes: Miss Behaviour will return to sprinting

VINTON, La. – Miss Behaviour will target sprint races next year after finishing fifth in her two-turn debut Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess. Trainer Phil Schoenthal said one of her chief objectives will be the Grade 1 Prioress, a six-furlong race at Saratoga.

“We’ll focus on sprinting,” he said.

Miss Behaviour established herself as one of the better 2-year-old fillies in the country this season with wins in the Grade 2 Matron at Belmont Park and the $104,000 Sorority at Monmouth. In the Princess, run at a mile, she tracked the pace in third under jockey Sheldon Russell.

“Sheldon said she was well in hand, sitting and waiting,” said Schoenthal.

But when asked after six furlongs, Miss Behaviour, the second choice, did not have her usual response. She finished 11 3/4 lengths behind winner Tepin.

“She came back fine. We just didn’t go the mile,” said Schoenthal.

Miss Behaviour arrived in Ocala, Fla., on Monday night and will get some downtime at a farm before resuming training. The filly, who is based at Bowie Training Center in Maryland, could return to the races in April or May.

“I think our first primary target will be the Miss Preakness on Black-Eyed Susan day,” Schoenthal said of the race at Pimlico. “We’ll decide if we need a prep.

“Our ultimate goal will be to try her in the Prioress.”

Miss Behaviour races for her breeders, Cal MacWilliam and Neil Teitelbaum. She is a daughter of Jump Start.

Grand Contender a success story

Maggi Moss, who long has played the claiming game well, has another winner on her hands in Grand Contender. He set a track record while winning his stakes debut in the $150,000 Delta Downs Mile on Saturday, and for the effort earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 102.

“He’s a horse that has improved vastly,” said Tom Amoss, who trains Grand Contender. “What’s really behind his success is Maggi Moss. She saw something in him.”

Moss claimed Grand Contender for $20,000 in August 2012 at Saratoga. The horse made his way to the Midwest this year, and won a Churchill Downs allowance and a $40,000 optional claimer at Indiana Downs in his starts immediately preceding the Delta Mile.

Amoss said Moss had the confidence in the horse to take a shot at the Delta Mile, a race in which Grand Contender went off at 10-1. But he ran more like a 1-5 shot, opening up on the field on the final turn and going on to a 3 1/4-length win. Grand Contender covered the distance in 1:36.89.

“She trusted her gut and she was exactly right,” said Amoss.

Amoss said plans for Grand Contender are to be determined. The horse is based at Fair Grounds. He is a 5-year-old gelding by Strong Contender and a half-brother to Twilight Eclipse, a multiple Grade 2 winner of $517,611.

Uncaptured eyes Oaklawn

Uncaptured, who finished third as the favorite in the Delta Mile, is being freshened in Ocala, Fla., and will likely make his next start at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., said trainer Mark Casse. Casse said he plans to have a 25-horse division at Oaklawn, which opens in January. He will also have a division of horses this winter at Gulfstream Park.

“We’re going to Oaklawn for the first time in about 30 years,” Casse said. “I was last there with a stable when I was 21 or 22.”

Uncaptured, a millionaire who won the middle leg of this year’s Canadian Triple Crown, closed from last in the Delta Mile. He’s one of a number of quality horses Casse plans to have at Oaklawn.

“We’ll probably try to bring a stakes horse for each division, if we can,” he said.

Casse said he will also look at the track’s 3-year-old stakes for Coastline, who finished a troubled eighth as the favorite in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot on Saturday, and Tepin, the winner of the Princess.

Casse is a multiple Sovereign Award-winning trainer in Canada.