Fair Grounds: Prayer for Relief to be favored in Louisiana Handicap
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NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Steve Asmussen enjoys being around the 6-year-old Prayer for Relief.
“He’s exactly why anybody would want to do this,” Asmussen said. “He’s got a tremendous amount of personality. He’s kind of cocky at what he does. He’s a really cool racehorse. He is a racehorse.”
Prayer for Relief’s record certainly says so. A four-time graded stakes winner with $1.58 million in earnings, Prayer for Relief is the leading money winner on the Road to the Derby Kickoff Day card Saturday at Fair Grounds. He’ll be the favorite in the $100,000 Louisiana Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race that drew six older horses.
Prayer for Relief, the 123-pound highweight, has picked up three pounds from the Tenacious Handicap, which he won decisively Dec. 21. He got a perfect stalking trip, zipped along the rail to take the lead entering the final turn, and pulled away, winning by 6 1/4 lengths over Ground Transport.
“It worked out real well,” Asmussen said. “I’m a little concerned about the horse who finished second coming back and getting beat in a two-other-than.”
Prayer for Relief’s eight victories in 25 starts have come at six tracks. “The way he has traveled and made money is unbelievable,” Asmussen said.
Three horses who trailed Prayer for Relief in the Tenacious – Agent Di Nozzo (third), trained by Steve Margolis; Grand Contender (fourth), trained by Tom Amoss; and Voodoo Storm (fifth), trained by Tim Glyshaw – are in the Louisiana Handicap field. The other horses, both trained by Greg Geier, are Street Spice, coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup on Nov. 30, and Fordubai, who was sixth in that race.
Agent Di Nozzo and Grand Contender also are entered in the Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap as possible starters if that turf race is switched to dirt.
Daddy Nose Best, trained by Asmussen, is the 122-pound highweight in a field of 12 older horses entered in the $125,000, Grade 3 Bradley at about 1 1/16 miles.
It’s not certain that Daddy Nose Best will start. Asmussen said the condition of the turf course will factor into a decision about whether to run Daddy Nose Best. If he is scratched, he would run in the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Turf Cup on Jan. 25 at Sam Houston, Asmussen said. But if the Bradley is moved to dirt, Daddy Nose Best, a graded stakes winner on dirt, might stay in, Asmussen said.
Daddy Nose Best, who has earned $867,303 in 23 starts, is coming off a strong performance. He rallied from far back to win the Diliberto Memorial by 3 1/2 lengths Dec. 21 on the Fair Grounds turf.
The runner-up was former claimer Adios Nardo, who set a fast pace. He’ll start in the Bradley if it stays on turf, according to trainer Leo Gabriel. “My horse is doing good,” Gabriel said. “I’m ready. I’m excited to see if he belongs.”
The field also includes the graded stakes winners Potomac River and Speaking of Which. Potomac River, trained by Jose Camejo, will be racing for the first time since winning the Grade 3 River City Handicap on Nov. 23 at Churchill Downs at 45-1 odds. Speaking of Which is coming off a victory in the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap on Dec. 7 at Calder for trainer Christophe Clement.
Louisiana-bred gelding String King tackles open company in the Bradley after losing by a nose to Sunbean in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic on dirt. Charles Smith trains String King, who finished second in the Bradley and third in the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz last season.
“He’s more honest than 99 percent of the people you meet these days,” Smith said.
The $75,000 Marie Krantz Memorial Handicap, at about 1 1/16 miles on turf for older fillies and mares, drew a full field of 12 and three also-eligibles.
Eden Prairie is coming off a 5 1/2-length romp in the Pago Hop Stakes against 3-year-olds at about a mile Nov. 29. “The extra sixteenth concerns me a little bit,” trainer Neil Pessin said. “I think her best distance is seven-eighths to a mile.”
Trainer Larry Jones will saddle Grade 3 winners Starstruck and Channel Lady for Calumet Farm. Jones joked about having given the mount on Starstruck, an Irish-bred mare, to Irishman James Graham. “He knows the lingo with her,” Jones said.