Fair Grounds: Amoss keeping top sprinters apart

Time flies when you’re having fun – especially when you’re having fun with top-notch sprinters. The highlights of an excellent day in the Tom Amoss barn totaled barely more than two minutes Saturday, as Delaunay won the Gaudin Memorial at Fair Grounds, going six furlongs in 1:09.58, and Sum of the Parts captured the Champion Energy Services Stakes at Sam Houston, setting a five-furlong course record of 56.28 seconds.

Both horses came out of their races in good shape, Amoss said Monday. Delaunay will target the $100,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes on March 8 at Fair Grounds – a race he won last year – while plans are fluid for Sum of the Parts, the rare horse who can carry his form between turf, dirt, and synthetic surfaces.

“One thing I know I won’t do is run them against each other,” Amoss said. “There’s no logical reason to do that. They possess the same style.”

That style involves seizing control of a race at the start and never letting go, exactly what Delaunay did in the Gaudin, his first start since the Aug. 4 Vanderbilt at Saratoga. Delaunay had come to hand powerfully in the fall of 2012, but the former claimer is 7 now, and even Amoss wasn’t certain how he’d come back from his extended vacation.

But Delaunay looked as good as ever Saturday and showed no negative effects from a fast comeback run.

“He took it well,” said Amoss, who trains Delaunay for owner Maggi Moss. “I paid close attention to him when he came back to see just how tired he was, and he acted just like he always does, which was great.”