On dirt, Quijote looks good in Sunday feature

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Tom Amoss has long played the off-the-turf game at Fair Grounds as well as any horseman here, and Amoss might have found another sweet spot in the featured sixth race Sunday.

Quijote is entered for the main track only in a third-level allowance race that is also open to $80,000 claimers and carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. If the rain that was expected all weekend falls at close to the forecast volume, Sunday’s grass races figure to wind up on dirt.

That would make Quijote the most likely winner of his second straight race at this meet. Quijote, a 4-year-old owned by Midwest Thoroughbreds, was a better-than-it-looked fourth here in the Thanksgiving Stakes, and he dominated a second-level dirt-sprint allowance race Dec. 17 at Fair Grounds. Quijote has gotten ample recovery time from that start – not that it appeared to be especially demanding – and has turned in two recent works as he attempts to successfully climb the allowance ladder.

I’m a Lawman was second to Quijote last time, and even in a winnowed-down off-the-turf race, the competition Sunday will be tougher than that. And if the race should stay on turf, it will be headed by a pair of high-level stakes droppers, Hogy and Latent Revenge, both of whom were entered for the $80,000 claiming option.

Latent Revenge was second and Hogy third Dec. 17 in the Bonapaw Stakes, a turf sprint won by Green Mask, who was dropping from a competitive performance in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Latent Revenge got the better trip that day, leading through a moderate half-mile pace and finishing well to miss by a neck.

Hogy, who lacks Latent Revenge’s pace, got too far behind and could not reach the top two despite coming home considerably faster than anyone else.

Directly following the featured sixth race is a second-level dirt-route allowance that is also open to $40,000 claimers and drew 10 entrants. Among them is the 4-year-old gelding Egyptian, who is 6-1 on the morning line and caught the eye in winning a first-level dirt-route allowance here last month after setting a strong pace. Egyptian is lightly raced and barely exposed on dirt and could come forward again Sunday at a fair price.