Eurton slightly prefers Howdy over Just Kidding

CYPRESS, Calif. – Howdy and Just Kidding did not race at the Del Mar summer meeting. For a while, they didn’t leave trainer Peter Eurton’s stable.

“They both got sick,” Eurton said Wednesday. “Just Kidding had a 104 [temperature] for a couple of days.”

Howdy and Just Kidding, both 4-year-olds, meet for the first time in a second-level optional $62,500 claimer at a mile in Friday’s seventh race at Los Alamitos.

For Howdy, this will be his first start since a fifth-place finish in the McCann’s Mojave Handicap for California-breds at Santa Anita on June 26. Just Kidding, who has yet to start in a stakes, has not raced since a fourth-place finish in an optional claimer at Santa Anita on June 10.

They are part of a field of nine that includes Chief of Staff, the winner of an optional claimer at Del Mar on July 15, and Grazen Sky, who was third in a division of the Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 24.

Race 7

KEY CONTENDERS

Howdy, by Sundarban

Last 3 Beyers: 79-80-81

◗ The illness may have come at a good time for Howdy, who has won 3 of 16 starts and earned $167,685. Prior to the loss in the McCann’s Mojave, Howdy finished sixth of seven in the Tiznow Stakes for California-breds at Santa Anita on May 28.

“I think he was getting a little bit stale,” Eurton said. “I think it worked out that he had the time off.”

◗ Eurton said Howdy might not have been ready for stakes competition.

“It was nothing physical that I could see,” he said. “Maybe he was starting to come down with something. The competition may have been a jump. He wasn’t the same horse.”

◗ Howdy has run well at Los Alamitos in the past, finishing second in an optional claimer for California-breds last December and winning an optional claimer against open company by two lengths in April.

◗ Of his runners, Eurton gives a slight edge to Howdy.

“I have a feeling Howdy can beat Just Kidding,” he said.

Just Kidding, by Kiss the Kid

Last 3 Beyers: 89-80-79

◗ Just Kidding was beaten 5 1/4 lengths by Baccelo at Santa Anita in June, his first race since being gelded in late April.

“I think he came up a little short in the race,” Eurton said.

◗ Earlier this year, Just Kidding was second to Melatonin in an optional claimer. Melatonin won the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap in his next start in March.

◗ In late August, after resuming training after the illness, Just Kidding recorded fast workouts at Los Alamitos and Del Mar, including six furlongs in 1:11 at Del Mar on Aug. 30.

Grazen Sky, by Grazen

Last 3 Beyers: 91-90-90

◗ Grazen Sky won the Silky Sullivan Stakes for California-breds on turf at Golden Gate Fields in May 2015 and lost his next nine races before winning an optional claimer at Del Mar on July 15. In the Brubaker, Grazen Sky was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Soi Phet, a contender in Saturday’s E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos.

◗ Grazen Sky is trained by Steve Miyadi, who returned to his stable this week after serving a 30-day suspension for a medication violation in 2015.