Excitations giving off good vibrations

Excitations got an education as well as a maiden win in his second start last Thursday at Fair Grounds.

A close second to the talented Girvin in his debut, Excitations was rated behind the speed while racing along the rail in a maiden dirt sprint Thursday. He came off the fence before the quarter pole to find running room, inhaled the leaders, and went on to a very easy victory. Excitations ran six furlongs in 1:10.44 and got an 81 Beyer Speed Figure.

Al Stall, who trains the son of Into Mischief for the Fair Grounds Racing Club, was happy with Excitations’s performance but is in no rush to try stakes competition. He hopes to stretch Excitations out to two turns in a first-level allowance race early in March.

◗ Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. will return to riding races Thursday at Fair Grounds. Valdivia has been out since November after breaking his leg in a spill. Valdivia was the leading rider, with 100 winners, over the summer at Arlington and had a productive 2015-16 Fair Grounds meet, winning 34 races.

“I’m ready,” Valdivia said. “I’ve been getting on horses for the last two weeks. My body got a nice break.”

◗ Thursday’s featured race 7, a first-level turf allowance carded for 1 1/16 miles, is deep, contentious, and above par for the class level. A case could be made for more than half the full field, but the preference here is for Cordon over Prairie Rebel.

Cordon, a lightly raced 4-year-old, has run well with poor trips in both of his starts at this meet and, with better luck, might well have won the Woodchopper Stakes last out. Cordon lacks positional speed but still could race more forwardly than Thursday rival Prairie Rebel, whose best races have come when he has been held at the back of the field for one late run through the homestretch.