Euroears owns tactical edge over Cash Refund

NEW ORLEANS - It's easy to see a younger Euroears in Cash Refund. Both were late to the races and both are wicked fast. The two have drawn the inside posts and look to be the speed of the speed in the $75,000 Gaudin, a six-furlong sprint carded as the last of six stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday.

Euroears was lightly raced as a 3-year-old in 2007, but he owned the Fair Grounds sprint stakes in his 4-year-old campaign, winning the Gaudin, the Colonel Power, and the Duncan Kenner in succession.

After struggling to regain his form in 2009 following a fracture in his cannon bone, he returned to Fair Grounds and won the Thanksgiving Day Handicap by 1 1/2 lengths, running his Fair Grounds record to 5 for 5.

Now 6, Euroears looks poised to take advantage of his position just outside of Cash Refund.

"I love drawing outside of Cash Refund," said trainer Bret Calhoun. "It gives me options, and I think this horse is very versatile."

Like Euroears, Cash Refund didn't make it to the races as a 2-year-old. And like Euroears, he showed plenty of speed once there, wiring the field by more than six lengths in his debut here last February.

In Cash Refund's third race, trainer Steve Margolis stepped him up into stakes company for the Matt Winn at Churchill in May. He showed both speed and heart, as he dueled with Capt. Candyman Can for the better part of the race before finishing three-quarters of length behind in second.

A hairline fracture slowed Cash Refund after the Matt Winn, but he returned to his winning ways four weeks ago, prevailing by a half-length in a second-level allowance here.

Cash Refund has drawn the rail, and Margolis said he believes that the key to the race will be for jockey Brian Hernandez to find the right gear for Cash Refund in the early going, and not get drawn into a duel too early.

"We don't want to go out there and kill each other, but we don't want to take back and lose our position," said Margolis "Sometimes the break unfolds differently than you think, and we'll let Brian use his judgment."