Fair Grounds: Adios Nardo takes a step back for extra conditioning in Sunday feature
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
NEW ORLEANS – Not quite satisfied with how the 5-year-old gelding Adios Nardo was training for the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap, trainer Leo Gabriel decided to back off and wait for an allowance race.
The spot came up as the feature on a nine-race card Sunday at Fair Grounds. Adios Nardo, runner-up in the Diliberto Memorial and Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley handicaps in his last two starts, will be facing nine rivals in a $45,500 optional claiming race for older horses. They’ll be running about a mile on turf.
“He’s doing a lot better now than a few weeks ago,” Gabriel said of Adios Nardo. “So we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it’ll be on the grass.”
The field includes six entrants who are at least graded stakes-placed, and several runners, including Adios Nardo, with early speed. Mark Guidry will ride Adios Nardo, who in both the Diliberto and Bradley couldn’t hold off Daddy Nose Best in the stretch.
Gabriel said that if Adios Nardo shows his best form, the race might be a stepping-stone to a stakes start, possibly the Mervin Muniz Memorial at the end of the meet. “We’ve got to get over this hurdle first,” Gabriel said.
All Stormy and Mr. Vegas, who ran two-three at this level in a Jan. 9 race a sixteenth of a mile longer, haven’t won since 2012. Greg Geier trains All Stormy, a 5-year-old who will be making his second start since September. Richie Scherer trains the 7-year-old gelding Mr. Vegas, whose last victory came in the Bradley in January 2012.
Strike Impact, a 10-year-old gelding, will be racing for the first time since November. Pat Dupuy trains Strike Impact, whose last victory came in the Diliberto in December 2012.
Say No More, who is stretching out after chasing Delaunay in the Gaudin Memorial and Sum of the Parts in the Bonapaw, is a possible front-runner. Michael Keogh trains Say No More.
Unlatch, an Al Stall Jr. trainee who hasn’t raced for a year, won the Woodchopper on this course in November 2012. I’m Boundtoscore, who won the Grade 2 Summer Stakes at Woodbine as a 2-year-old in 2012 for trainer Troy Rankin, returned from a 14-month layoff with an 11th-place finish in the Forego in January at Turfway Park.
Post time for the first race will be 1:25 p.m. Central.