Fair Grounds: Asmussen takes it on the inside

Put it this way: They are definitely not the post positions – the rail for Shook Up in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes and post 2 for Tiznow R J in the Risen Star – that trainer Steve Asmussen would have chosen for his top 3-year-old stakes horses Saturday at Fair Grounds.

But post positions in all but the rarest cases are assigned, not chosen, and Asmussen and his two talented horses have no choice but to play the dealt hand.

“That’s what these preps are for, to work out all the kinks,” Asmussen said. “Better to have to overcome them now and not later.”

Shook Up is one of 10 fillies in the Rachel Alexandra, and her maiden win Jan. 3 at Fair Grounds suggested that she has the raw ability of any of them. But in that romping victory, Shook Up was allowed to run free on the outside, never having to take any pressure nor be stoutly restrained behind horses. Back in action Jan. 26 in a first-level allowance race, Shook Up broke from the rail and got bottled up behind a dawdling pace – and hated it. She pulled, raced rankly, and then proceeded to lug in once finally clear during the stretch run.

While the filly who set the pace and beat her that day, Lovely Maria, is back for the Rachel Alexandra, the good news for Shook Up is that Saturday’s race appears to have far more early speed than did the allowance race. The field figures to spread out, and Shook Up and jockey Robby Albarado might have a chance to extricate themselves from tight quarters not long after the start.

“I don’t think it will be as tough for her as last time, when she was locked in there. But like I said, this is a prep,” Asmussen said.

Tiznow R J is a big boy, a tall, young horse who is by no means weedy or slight, and in the Lecomte Stakes, where he broke from an inside post, he wound up stuck on the rail and in a somewhat tricky spot for a horse still learning the ropes. Something similar is possible Saturday, but Asmussen hopes Tiznow R J might be better equipped to cope with it.

“I do think he is,” Asmussen said. “His training since the Lecomte has been impressive. He’s an obviously talented horse that we hope puts it together in time to make a dent in the 3-year-old division, though he does need physical and mental maturity.”

I’m A Chatterbox, Lovely Maria, and the Todd Pletcher-trained Angela Renee should be the betting choices along with Shook Up in the Rachel Alexandra.

Tiznow R J will be a longer price in the Risen Star, where Imperia and J S Bach will vie for favoritism with Lecomte winner International Star.

There are four other stakes on the Saturday card, including the Grade 3 Mineshaft and the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap.

Untapable, Tapiture progressing

Untapable worked five furlongs in 1:01.96 on Monday as she continues gearing up for her 4-year-old debut.

Untapable worked by herself, and trainer Steve Asmussen said she would have at least one more solo drill before he would consider breezing Untapable in company. It was Untapable’s second five-furlong work and her fourth breeze in total since she returned to training this winter. She had been turned out at owner-breeder Ron Winchell’s farm in Kentucky after her win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Tapiture, the 4-year-old colt who finished his 2014 campaign with a good second to Goldencents in the BC Dirt Mile, has been on the same work pattern as Untapable. He breezed five furlongs Monday in 1:02.20.

No specific plans for either horse have been announced by connections, but it’s no secret that the only truly worthy early-season goal for a filly of Untapable’s stature is the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn in April. Tapiture raced last winter at Oaklawn and would have better stakes options there than at Fair Grounds, where the only remaining dirt-route race for older horses on the stakes schedule is the nine-furlong New Orleans Handicap.

“They’re both traveling really well, both staying at their weight better than I ever would have imagined,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen contrasted the relaxed environment of working the horses this winter compared with the same time last winter, when both were 3-year-olds, with races the first weekend in May – the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks – applying backward pressure on their schedule.

“It’s just a completely different scenario now,” Asmussen said.

Turf for Another Lemon Drop?

Another Lemon Drop, the fourth-place finisher in the Lecomte Stakes whose connections had deemed him a probable starter in the Risen Star this weekend, wasn’t entered in the race but is “doing good,” according to trainer Phil Bauer, and could return to turf for his next start.

Another Lemon Drop worked five furlongs Saturday, and Bauer said Another Lemon Drop was a possible runner in the Black Gold, a 7 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds. Another Lemon Drop’s last three starts came on dirt, but his first two were on turf, and he won a maiden race over the Keeneland grass course.