Extra Credit moves to open company for Black Gold

If you have been blindly betting Brad Cox-trained horses on turf this Fair Grounds season, congratulations on a successful meet. Through last week’s action, the Cox barn has sent out 39 horses in turf races, and 18 of them have won. A $2 win bet on each of them has netted a return of $2.71 on that investment, and for a couple of months now, the betting public has gravitated to Cox-trained turf horses like moths to a sodium-arc street lamp.

But what’s this? A Cox-trained turf horse coming off consecutive wins listed at 6-1 on the Fair Grounds morning line? Yep, that’s Extra Credit, who goes for Cox and owners-breeders Richard and Bertram Klein in the co-featured $60,000 Black Gold Stakes, race 7 on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Extra Credit won’t go off at odds that long since morning-line 3-1 favorite Crescent Drive will be scratched to start instead at Sam Houston, trainer Tom Amoss said, but he might still be an unusually square price for a Cox turf horse at Fair Grounds. That’s because Extra Credit exits Louisiana-bred competition for an open stakes, and handicappers might well question his quality.

“It’s probably a little bit of a step up from what he’s been facing, but he handled the Louisiana-breds fine,” Cox said. “I think it’s a good spot for him.”

Being by Proud Citizen and out of a Stormy Atlantic mare, Extra Credit basically is Louisiana-bred in name only, and after two decent dirt sprints to start his career, he has found a home in two-turn turf races. His blowout maiden score came with an assist from a perfect trip pressing a slow pace, but facing 10 other winners after that maiden score, he rallied into a slow pace and made short work of his rivals with a final quarter-mile in slightly more than 23 seconds.

That closing kick could serve him well Saturday in a 7 1/2-furlong race packed with pace influences: Four or five horses figure to go forward and set early and middle fractions that are at least solid, if not taxing.

Included in the field is One Mean Man, who scored an upset win Jan. 31 in the Keith Gee Memorial, a race much like the Black Gold, but one that featured a glacial pace, not a fast one. One Mean Man breaks from the rail and, as a horse with some speed, risks getting swept into the lead pack, though he is talented and still has room to grow on grass.

Millionaire Sunbean tries turf

Louisiana-bred standout Sunbean, a million-dollar earner, is set to make his first start in more than a year as part of a large field in the $60,000 Dixie Poker Ace. Sunbean, for years the leading older Louisiana-bred dirt horse, will be making his turf debut, and trainer Ron Faucheux said the intention is to run.

“We’ve always wanted to try it, and now is a good time to give it a shot and see how he takes to turf,” said Faucheux, who trains Sunbean for his owner and breeder, the Brittlyn Stable. “We’ll see how he likes it. The Star Guitar [on dirt March 26] is the ultimate goal, and we wanted to get him a race before that.”

Also among the entrants is One King’s Man, an elite Louisiana-bred dirt-route horse who will be making just his second start on turf. His lone previous grass race came at Saratoga before trainer Joe Sharp took over.

“I want to run him on the grass,” Sharp said. “With his off-track form, he should really like it. His only turf [race] came on more-than-firm Saratoga turf, and he wasn’t in good form then. I’ve been kind of anxious to try him, really.”

One King’s Man seems the likelier of the two name horses to race competitively Saturday, and the mere presence of the duo could produce value on capable turf runners like Hot Zapper – the winner of the Louisiana Champions Day turf in his most recent statebred-restricted start – Stormdriver, and Hopeful Notion.