Fun Money burning up track in workouts
Based strictly on numbers, Fun Money is the class of Sunday’s featured eighth race at Emerald Downs, a $24,000 allowance at 5 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares.
Stakes-placed at Santa Anita as a 2-year-old, Fun Money, now 5, has found the winner’s circle just once in 12 career starts, but she’s finished second five times and third four times to amass $169,290 in earnings. That’s by far the highest number in this seven-horse field, as is Fun Money’s career-best 79 Beyer Speed Figure.
She’s also turned in a handful of recent bullet works, including a three-furlong blaze in 33.20 seconds that’s among the fastest ever recorded at the Auburn, Wash., track.
“I think they maybe got a little trigger finger up there, but she put in a quick work,” trainer Justin Evans said of the clocking. “She’s a very speedy filly, very athletic.”
So what’s not to like about the 9-5 morning-line favorite? Yet another number, 2023, which would be the last year in which Fun Money raced before a layoff that’s about to end after more than two years.
Trained in California by Doug O’Neill, Fun Money was recently privately purchased by Evans and his partners, who intended to bring her back during the recently concluded Turf Paradise meet. But they couldn’t find a suitable allowance for her down in the desert, so here she is amidst the mountains and pines for her Emerald debut.
“She’s got a great form to her,” Evans said. “I know she’s had a lot of time off. She’s a talented filly with a lot of upside.”
If it turns out Fun Money needs a race, My Little Lady, who won her only start going six furlongs at Emerald last fall, could be in line to take a step forward at age 4, while From Scratch enters the barn of leading trainer Blaine Wright after finishing a disappointing 11th on the Fair Grounds turf on March 23 in the 5 1/2-furlong Page Cortez, a Louisiana-bred stakes.
Another horse going turf to dirt is the Evans-trained Great King in race 4, a $15,000 claiming race at 6 1/2 furlongs. The French-bred 7-year-old posted a field-best 93 Beyer in January 2024 with Frankie Dettori aboard in a one-mile turf sprint at Santa Anita. He gets top jockey Kevin Krigger for his Emerald debut.
In his last race, Great King finished third, beaten 2 1/2 lengths, as a 7-5 favorite after leading at the top of the stretch in a 7 1/2-furlong turf allowance at Turf Paradise.
“I think the cutback in distance and an outside draw should help him,” said Evans. “This is a good, tight, dirt track, so it seems like those grass horses transition pretty well. His works have been great.”
Great King’s main competition in race 4 is morning-line favorite Horse Doctor, a 9-year-old gelding who hasn’t turned in an official workout since going five furlongs in 1:02 at Pleasanton on Nov. 16.
“He doesn’t like too much work – more pony jog,” explained Sergio Perez, Horse Doctor’s trainer. “You want to make him fresh to run like that.”
Perez was referring to Horse Doctor’s effort in a six-furlong claiming race on May 10 at Emerald. There, Horse Doctor chased eventual winner Chuckanut Bay through scorching early fractions of 21.84 and 43.82 seconds to finish second by two lengths – and seven lengths clear of the rest of the field – in tying a career-best Beyer of 84.
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