Fiftyshadesofgold will represent Texas in the Acorn

Fiftyshadesofgold will attempt to be the first Texas-bred to win a Grade 1 race in more than a decade on Saturday, when she runs in the $750,000 Acorn at Belmont Park. She will be one of the top choices in the one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies on the strength of her win in the Grade 3 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs.

The last Texas-bred to capture a Grade 1 was Got Koko in the 2002 La Brea at Santa Anita, according to the Texas Thoroughbred Association. Fiftyshadesofgold has strong ties to Texas. She was bred by the late Clarence Scharbauer Jr., a philanthropist and oilman who lived in Midland, and she now races for his estate. Fiftyshadesofgold is trained by Bret Calhoun, a Texas native, and she launched her career at Lone Star Park near Dallas.

Fiftyshadesofgold was a 10-length debut winner May 24, 2013, then one start later accounted for the $113,000 Debutante at Churchill. She began her 3-year-old season on another winning note, in a division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston in February. Not long after, Scharbauer died. Fiftyshadesofgold would go on to honor her late owner with her first graded stakes win, in the Eight Belles on the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks.

“Mr. Scharbauer was really excited about this filly,” Calhoun said. “To have her win on such a big stage for the Scharbauer family, it was very special.”

Calhoun said Fiftyshadesofgold, who breezed a half-mile in 49.60 seconds Friday at Churchill, is scheduled to fly to New York on Thursday. She won at seven furlongs in the Eight Belles, and Calhoun said he likes the added ground she will pick up on Saturday.

“I think she fits very well coming back in the Acorn,” he said. “I think the one-mile distance is probably better for her than seven-eighths. I think you’ve got to rush her a little bit [going shorter]. She’s a large filly. She’ll do what you ask her to do, but it puts a little more pressure on her going a little shorter, as big as she is. I think the mile gives her more of an opportunity to settle in and not be so rushed.”

Fiftyshadesofgold, who in March was second to eventual Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, is a daughter of My Golden Song. Her dam, Hadif Cat, is from the female family of Alysheba, the 1988 Horse of the Year raced by Scharbauer’s family.

The most widely known Texas-bred is Assault, who won the Triple Crown in 1946.

Global Power may try Jaipur

Global Power, a multiple stakes winner who captured the $100,000 Unbridled at Louisiana Downs in 2012, is being considered for the Grade 3, $300,000 Jaipur Invitational at Belmont Park on Saturday, said his trainer Jonas Gibson.

Gibson said the horse, who last raced at Presque Isle, is now based at Louisiana Downs. A final decision on the Jaipur, to be run over six furlongs on the turf, will be based on the weather forecast as the horse prefers firm ground to soft turf, Gibson said. Flight schedules are being discussed, with the horse tentatively scheduled to depart from Dallas on either Tuesday or Wednesday, said Gibson.

Gibson said long-term, Global Power is a candidate for the Unbridled in September. He trains the horse for Loooch Racing, the co-owner of Ria Antonia, who was placed first in last year’s the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and who in her most recent start faced males in the Preakness.

Loooch Racing and Gibson will be in action Sunday at Louisiana Downs, with Princess of Pearl in the seventh race. She will meet multiple stakes winner Drinking Fund in the optional $12,500 claimer for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares at about a mile on turf.

“She’ll be first-time blinkers,” Gibson said. “She breezed like a house-a-fire the other day when we added blinkers.” Princess of Pearl went a bullet half-mile in 47.40 seconds at Louisiana Downs on May 17.

◗ Donoharm, runner-up in the Lone Star Park Handicap, will probably ship to Kentucky soon and target spots either there, or in Chicago, Indiana, or at Presque Isle, said Calhoun.