Fair Grounds: I Dazzle fits well versus Louisiana-breds in Red Camelia
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
At age 6, and with 21 starts behind her, one might think the mare I Dazzle could see her best days in the rearview mirror.
But not so fast. Until this winter, I Dazzle was based in California, where she proved out as a marginal turf stakes horse. She was entered to be sold at auction last winter, failed to meet her reserve, and was purchased by a group that included trainer Mike Stidham, who brought I Dazzle into his Fair Grounds string to belatedly take advantage of the fact the mare was bred in Louisiana.
Her first start against fellow Louisiana-breds on March 1 produced a convincing turf allowance win, and despite an outside draw Saturday in the $60,000 Red Camelia Stakes, I Dazzle stands a good chance of making it two wins in a row.
“She had been turned out for a couple months when we bought her, and we basically had to start from scratch,” Stidham said. “We were hoping to get her here, get one race in her, and run her in the stakes. This is the race she’s been pointed for.”
I Dazzle and jockey Robby Albarado are drawn outside the other nine entrants in the Red Camelia, carded for 1 1/16 miles on grass. The mare races with a stalking or closing style and figures to try to drop in for position before hitting the first turn, and Stidham said he thinks the extra furlong she has to work with Saturday will be to I Dazzle’s benefit.
“I was worried that the seven and one-half [furlongs] last time would be a little short for her,” he said. “I’d have to think the mile and a sixteenth is going to be better.”
There is no other horse in the Red Camelia with a single turf performance as good as several of I Dazzle’s, though 5-2 morning-line second choice Tensas Harbor has gone 2 for 2 in the limited grass portion of her career. Last summer at Evangeline Downs, Tensas Harbor won consecutive grass starts before returning to dirt, where she has put together a string of strong Louisiana-bred stakes performances. Tensas Harbor looks like the horse to beat if the race is rained onto the main track, but I Dazzle, barring regression, should take her measure on turf.