Fair Grounds notes: Mizz Money could return to dirt for FG Oaks

NEW ORLEANS – Having won three consecutive turf races, the latest being the Allen LaCombe Memorial on March 7, Mizz Money might try dirt in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 28, trainer/co-owner/co-breeder Bernie Flint said.

“I’m thinking,” Flint said. “I don’t know what they’ll have coming in. I’m looking for my options and will see what they are.”

Flint said that Mizz Money, a daughter of Mizzen Mast out of the Grand Slam mare Abbeyville Miss, “works extremely well on the dirt.”

The filly, who set the pace in her second start at the meet, settled a few lengths off the pace in the LaCombe. “She laid off the speed,” Flint said. “[Jockey Francisco Torres] did the right thing. I knew they’d be gunning for her. She wants to win. That’s the most important thing for a racehorse.”

String King out of Muniz

Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap winner String King, who was being pointed to the Grade 2 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap on March 28, missed training time recently because of a kidney infection and won’t be able to make the race, trainer/owner/breeder Charles Smith said Thursday.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking to me,” Smith said. “I wanted to see him run in it. He deserves to be with those horses.”

A 7-year-old Louisiana-bred gelding, String King scored his first graded win in the Grade 3 Bradley. The Muniz is the track’s most significant turf race.

Honey Fox possible for La Tia

Trainer Armando De La Cerda said he’ll probably run the Grade 1-winning turf mare La Tia next in the Grade 2 Honey Fox on March 28 at Gulfstream Park.

After that race, La Tia might be headed to the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on Kentucky Derby Day, May 2, De La Cerda said.

Since finishing second in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes on Feb. 16 at Santa Anita in her first start this year, La Tia has worked once at Fair Grounds, going five furlongs in 1:02.60 on March 3. “She came back pretty good,” De La Cerda said.