Fair Grounds: Son of a Preacher, Plug Catcher look to rebound in Friday feature

The Kentucky Derby radar guns will be out in force Friday when the ninth race at Fair Grounds matches up a number of promising prospects trying to make the Derby radar screen in their final starts as 2-year-olds.

A field of 10 is entered in the ninth of 10 Friday races, a first-level allowance at a mile and 70 yards, and the timing is such that the winner and perhaps another horse or two could logically wheel back for the first Derby prep at the New Orleans track, the Grade 3 Lecomte on Jan. 18.

Bret Calhoun, one of three trainers with two horses in this Friday feature, is certainly hoping that will be the case for Son of a Preacher (post 7, Miguel Mena) and/or Plug Catcher (post 8, Rosie Napravnik), both of whom were first-out sprint winners at Churchill Downs before finishing unplaced in respective stretch-outs.

As for Plug Catcher, “I sure hope you can throw a line through that last race,” Calhoun said early this week from Fair Grounds. “We were extremely high going in, and he couldn’t have run any worse. I don’t want to make excuses, but the track got really loose and deep at times during that meet, and this horse’s head was bobbing all the way around there.

“Rosie was pretty adamant that that was the case, too. Since we’ve come down here to Fair Grounds, the colt has trained extremely well. He’s a pretty laid-back horse, maybe a little too much, and we’ve had him work with blinkers a couple of times and he’s been pretty sharp and more focused. Hopefully, when he runs with the blinkers Friday he’ll bounce back the way we expect him to.”

Son of a Preacher, said Calhoun, “has some pretty high knee action, which is why we tried him on the grass there at Churchill, but the turf was pretty soft that day and he just didn’t take to it. We’re still pretty optimistic about him, too, and I think there’s a good chance he’ll rebound as well.”

The Calhoun horses will be uncoupled for wagering purposes, as will the Tim Glyshaw duo of Smartified (post 4, Marcelino Pedroza Jr.) and Birdsone (post 10, Roman Chapa). Conversely, Steve Asmussen will have the only same-owner entry in the race in Gold Hawk (post 1, Ricardo Santana Jr.) and Zantastical (post 6, Richard Eramia), both carrying the maroon and white of Winchell Thoroughbreds.

Gold Hawk, who made a splashy debut on the closing-day Stars of Tomorrow card at Churchill, has a pedigree worth noting. He is by classic winner and world-class sire Empire Maker and was produced by champion Caressing, winner of the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The other Winchell runner, Zantastical, is the only one of the 10 entered here for a $50,000 claiming option.

The purse for the Friday feature is listed at $46,000, although that includes a $5,000 slots supplement for Louisiana-breds.

Two other allowances (races 5 and 7) precede the Friday feature on a card that starts at 1 p.m. Central. The ninth is scheduled for 4:53 p.m.