Fair Grounds: Always Here Too points to Silverbulletday Stakes

The filly Always Here Too earned a slot in the Jan. 21 Silverbulletday Stakes with an allowance race victory Wednesday at Fair Grounds, and if all goes according to plan with the colt Shared Property, trainer Tom Amoss will have 3-year-olds to run in both the Silverbulletday and Lecomte Stakes on Fair Grounds’ first significant multiple open-stakes card of the meeting.

Always Here Too made her first start after a break of almost three months in Wednesday’s sixth race. Her connections had hoped to start Always Here Too on dirt and got a break when the turf sprint in which she was entered was rained onto the main track. Racing sixth of nine down the backstretch, Always Here Too commenced a steady rally on the far turn under Rosie Napravnik, reaching the front past the stretch call and going on to a one-length victory over rail-skimming Ready To Unleash. Her time of 1:04.97 for 5 1/2 furlongs produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 73.

“The filly is being pointed to the Silverbulletday,” said Amoss, who trains Always Here Too for Pop-A-Top LLC. “I thought she ran a good sprint race, and we’re looking forward to stretching her out.”

By Include and out of a Lord at War mare, Always Here Too’s pedigree suggests two-turn racing will be within her scope. She was fifth in the Arlington-Washington Lassie and third in the Blue Hen Stakes in her two races beyond a sprint distance in 2011.

Shared Property, the Arlington-Washington Futurity winner who most recently finished sixth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, turned in his second workout following a layoff Friday, breezing five furlongs in 1:03. Shared Property’s first two drills were fairly easy, and Amoss said Shared Property would pick up the pace in his next breeze while working in company with an eye on making his 3-year-old debut in the Lecomte.

“We’ll change gears next week and do stuff a little quicker and a little more competitive,” Amoss said.

Flash Mash quirky but successful

Flash Mash’s pre-race quirkiness continued in the featured race Thursday at Fair Grounds – as did her win streak.

Flash Mash won her second straight turf-sprint race of the meet, beating a field of third-level allowance horses and $62,500 claimers by 1 1/2 lengths. While perhaps not quite as sharp as she’d been in her victory Dec. 2, Flash Mash still won with something left over stronger opposition than she’d previously beaten.

But, for the second straight race, Flash Mash had a mental block while readying for her race in the paddock. She basically had to be dragged out onto the track, with jockey Robby Albarado getting a leg up as Flash Mash was being led alongside a pony while the other horses paraded before the post.

“She totally froze up in the paddock and wouldn’t move,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “We’d schooled her the day before, put tack on her during the races, and she was fine, so she’s really thinking hard about this stuff. She’s not getting hot or anything, and I’m not seeing that it affects her performance. Whether it’s going to take its toll in the long run, we’ll have to see.”

Flash Mash is owned by Prime Equestrian, an overseas group with ties to Dubai, and therefore the filly is being considered for a trip to the Winter Carnival at Meydan sometime early in 2012. She also remains a possible starter, Stidham said, in the Pan Zareta Stakes on the Jan. 21 card at Fair Grounds.

◗ Uno Ducksy looks like a formidable stakes dropper in the featured seventh race Sunday, a second-level turf-sprint allowance also open to $40,000 claimers. Uno Ducksy, a five-time winner, races under the claiming option, and if the gelding comes close to repeating his fourth-place finish behind the likes of Chamberlain Bridge in the Bonapaw Stakes on Dec. 17, he should be difficult to beat. Homerun Berti, a main-track-only entrant, probably would be favored if the race is rained onto dirt.

◗ Jermaine Bridgmohan injured his ankle and foot during a starting-gate incident Monday and was off his mounts beginning Wednesday. His agent, Derek Ducoing, said Bridgmohan didn’t suffer any broken bones and hoped to resume riding Sunday.