Fair Grounds: Flashy Campaign hints she will relish route in first try against winners

There persists a thought that a horse who wins her career debut on the lead when sprinting might have big trouble when stretching out to two turns, especially given the requisite jump in class.

But does it have to be that way? Not necessarily.

“Although she was close to the lead in her first start, she was very relaxed, and I’m confident she’s going to be just as effective going long, maybe even more so,” trainer Tom Amoss said of Flashy Campaign, a 4 1/2-length debut winner in a six-furlong maiden race on opening weekend of the Fair Grounds meet.

Flashy Campaign, a $32,000 yearling purchase, will start from post 1 in the last of three allowances Friday night at Fair Grounds, where the New Orleans track will kick off its popular Starlight Racing series with a first post of 5 p.m. Central. Just five other 2-year-old fillies are entered against her in the mile and 70-yard race, and Amoss is optimistic she can pass this next hurdle. Leandro Goncalves has a return mount.

“She’s had a couple useful works in the meantime, and she’s always acted like she’ll be able to get a distance,” said Amoss, who trains Flashy Campaign, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Political Force, for owner Jerry Namy.

The $47,000 race, a first-level optional $50,000 claimer, is the ninth of 10, with post time set for 9:16 on the twilight program. The earlier allowances are carded as the second and eighth.

This is the first of seven programs under the Fair Grounds lights in the annual Starlight series. Fair Grounds offers a variety of entertainment and dining options for ontrack fans, with more information available on the track website, fairgroundsracecourse.com. DJ Soul Sister and Category 6 will supply the soundtracks Friday night.

Fair Grounds is taking a page from its Kentucky brethren when raffling off four $1,000 college scholarships in conjunction with the evening program. The raffle is co-sponsored by the track and the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.

◗ Calvin Borel, the three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey, is scheduled to ride for the first time since Dec. 13 when climbing aboard a 2-year-old colt named Malibu High for his brother, trainer Cecil Borel, in the second race Friday evening. It is Borel’s only scheduled mount of the evening.

Borel, 46, is just two wins away from becoming the 26th jockey in North America to achieve the 5,000-win milestone. He will begin riding on a more regular basis when Oaklawn Park starts its 2013 meet Jan. 11.

◗ Mark Jan. 12 on your racing calendar: that’s when (non-betting) zebra and ostrich races will be held at Fair Grounds. That also is the date for the next non-restricted stakes, the $75,000 Pan Zareta for filly and mare turf sprinters.