Fair Grounds handicapping roundup: Week of Jan. 4

Prospect watch

Gold Hawk threw his hat into the Louisiana Derby ring Dec. 27 with a 3 1/2-length win in a first-level allowance at one mile and 70 yards. Gold Hawk’s final time of 1:43.96 behind solid splits on a track producing moderate times translated to a Beyer Speed Figure of 82, nothing to set the world on fire but a solid progression from the 67 Gold Hawk got in winning his seven-furlong debut Nov. 30 at Churchill.

I wasn’t as impressed with the debut run as much as some people, but trainer Steve Asmussen expressed optimism about this Empire Maker colt in the days leading up to this two-turn debut, and he certainly moved forward in the race.

Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. said he schooled Gold Hawk, settling him behind horses, and it wasn’t until turning for home that the colt really started to run. He’s all legs at this point and has room to improve his focus, but he got up a nice head of steam in the final quarter-mile and was doing his best work at the finish and into the clubhouse turn galloping out.

Gold Hawk is a very solid prospect for early-season 3-year-old route stakes, and I’d not be surprised to see him turn around on fairly short rest and try the Jan. 18 Lecomte at Fair Grounds.

Somewhat lost in the holiday activity was the win in the fourth race Tuesday by Speightsong. This was a maiden special weight sprint carded for turf but rained onto dirt. Speightsong had raced twice on Polytrack and once on turf at Woodbine, finishing eighth, third, and eighth, and this performance was of an entirely different order.

Speightsong broke sharply from the rail, led, and crushed 4-5 favorite No Free Lunch in the stretch, widening to win by 7 1/2 lengths for trainer Malcolm Pierce. On the one hand, the breakthrough performance came while turning back to a sprint; on the other, Speightsong is a brother to Up With the Birds, who is effective at least up to 1 1/4 miles.

Tapiture, the Kentucky Jockey Club winner, worked twice in December, slowly both times, and is being brought back slowly by Asmussen. Remember, he won the KJC as a maiden and thus has an allowance-race option.

Unknown Road, whose 98 Beyer in a six-furlong maiden win Dec. 19 puts him in rarefied 2-year-old speed-figure air, worked a moderate half-mile last Tuesday and is targeting a Jan. 24 allowance race. Son of a Preacher and Purple Sky, both from trainer Bret Calhoun, looked limited in getting dusted by Gold Hawk in the allowance race. Got Shades’s connections had planned to send him to Fair Grounds in early December. He still might be targeting the Lecomte but has been working at Retama instead.

Commanding Curve, a solid-looking Churchill maiden winner for Dallas Stewart, worked twice in December, but Stewart seems to be in no rush. His better-looking filly Unbridled Forever drilled much faster this past week and seems ahead of the colt.

Delta Jackpot winner Rise Up still is on holiday for trainer Tom Amoss. Amoss’s other youngster of note, Kendall’s Boy, worked a half-mile Dec. 16 but hasn’t breezed since.

No works for blowout Louisiana-bred maiden winner (98 Beyer) Vicar’s in Trouble since his Dec. 14 race.

Larry Jones has Albano for the Lecomte and will try to get Divine View, a slightly disappointing sixth in the Springboard Mile, into an allowance race this weekend.

Shortest way still the best way

Outside draws continue to be non-starters in both sprints and routes on the main track. In 5 1/2- and six-furlong sprints, posts 6 to 12 have combined to win only 27 of 317 starts. In races at one mile and 70 yards, posts 1 to 5 have won 53 of 330 starts, while posts 6 to 12 have won 13 of 180 starts. The win numbers skew to some extent because not all races have 12 horses, but the evidence is clear that for the second meet in a row, an inside draw appears to confer an edge beyond simple geometry at Fair Grounds.