Eden Grey's Kitten might find true calling in turf sprint

Eden Grey’s Kitten is not hapless in dirt races, and from five two-turn turf races, he has three wins and two seconds. Yet the suspicion remains that at heart, Eden Grey’s Kitten wants to sprint on turf, and if that suspicion is founded, he could be a worthy play in the featured eighth race Thursday at Fair Grounds.

Eden Grey’s Kitten (who is chestnut, not gray) is one of 10 horses in the main body of a second-level allowance race that’s also open to $40,000 claimers and carded for about 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. An 11th horse, Mars Curiosity, is entered for the main track only.

Eden Grey’s Kitten comes of a first-level turf-sprint allowance win and takes a decided step up in class, and bettors should demand a fair price on the rise. The gelding is listed at 9-2 on the track’s morning line, but with a strong turf record and Florent Geroux named to ride, he could be bet lower, and even interested parties should hesitate at something like 5-2. DRF Formulator shows trainer Steve Flint winning steadily with turf sprinters over the last two years at Fair Grounds, but his strong 16-5-1-3 record in such races has produced only a $1.71 return on each $2 win investment.

The bare form has Eden Grey’s Kitten winning that first-level allowance last out by a half-length, but his performance surpassed the victory margin. Stuck behind a wall of horses for most of the homestretch, Eden Grey’s Kitten and Geroux split rivals past the eighth pole with a decisive move to take command of the race. It was the sort of quick burst that wins turf sprints, and Eden Grey’s Kitten possesses plenty of positional speed, having won his only other one-turn grass race by more than 10 lengths after leading throughout.

Among the others, Nite of the Hunter has some appeal. His last-start blowout win came on a muddy main track, and Nite of the Hunter is 0-0-1 from four grass races, but his two most recent turf starts came around two turns, and Nite of the Hunter almost certainly prefers one. He sprinted on turf twice late at the last Fair Grounds meet but wasn’t the horse then that he is now, and sire Temple City’s offspring handle grass more often than not.

The featured eighth is the last of four allowance and maiden races on a very decent nine-race Thursday program. Race 5 is a first-level dirt-route allowance for older horses in which Sylvia’s Warrior gets the nod, presumably at a square price. Race 6, a first-level filly-and-mare turf-sprint allowance, includes Mi Fiori (trained, like Sylvia’s Warrior, by Mike Stidham), who returned from a 14-month layoff Dec. 10 to sharply win a turf-sprint maiden race on the Fair Grounds course. Race 7 is a two-turn, 3-year-old maiden dirt race that figures to have Zapperini, Attraction, and No Distortion as the favorites, but take a second look at the first-time-starting Producer for the Pavel Vashchenko barn.