Fair Grounds: Seven Lively Sins may finally be living up to promise

NEW ORLEANS – Racing’s most extreme equipment change – castration – appears to have made a difference with Seven Lively Sins.

His second start as a gelding comes Sunday in the second-level allowance/optional-claiming feature at the Fair Grounds.

As a 2-year-old last year, Seven Lively Sins showed promise, winning a maiden race at Keeneland in his second start before finishing third in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs and fourth in the Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot.

A 12th-place finish in the Lecomte put him out of consideration for the Louisiana Derby, and five more losses followed. Enough was enough, trainer/co-owner Al Stall Jr. decided. In September, Seven Lively Sins was gelded.

“He ran twice at Saratoga,” Stall said. “I felt that he trained a lot better in the mornings than he was running in the afternoons.’’

Seven Lively Sins returned to competition Nov. 7 at Churchill Downs, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.80 to score a sharp victory in a first-level allowance race.

“We were just tickled to death with that last race,’’ Stall said. “He acted like a racehorse.’’

Shaun Bridgmohan retains the mount for Sunday’s six-furlong race, which drew a field of eight older horses.

A logical contender is Ammaroo, who hasn’t raced since finishing sixth in the Don Bernhardt in July at Ellis Park.

“He just lost his form over the summer,’’ trainer David Carroll said. “I think he overheated that day. We took our time with him.’’

In June at Churchill Downs, Ammaroo finished third in a second-level allowance/optional-claiming sprint.

Lake Victor, who finished second a nose to Fastestwhogetspaid in the Gazebo at Oaklawn Park in early March before being pulled up in the Bachelor, returned to racing in early November with a third-place finish in a Churchill Downs turf sprint at this allowance level. Steve Asmussen trains Lake Victor, who won a maiden race and first-level allowance race last season at the Fair Grounds.

Hamiltonian, trained by Larry Jones, also will draw betting support after finishing in the money in his last two starts, which came in second-level allowance/optional-claiming company at Churchill Downs. In October, Hamiltonian finished a troubled ninth in the Grade 3 Phoenix at Keeneland.