Hotshot Anna could be a price in Mardi Gras

Hotshot Anna’s five-race winning streak ended when she finished eighth as a 3-2 shot Jan. 25 in the Nelson J. Menard Memorial Stakes. Perhaps she can start a new one at a considerably better price Tuesday in the $75,000 Mardi Gras Stakes.

Her chances in part depend on which horses entered in the Mardi Gras, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint restricted to older fillies and mares, actually start in the race. Break Even, one of two entered by Klein Racing and trainer Brad Cox, won’t be running, Cox said Sunday, and could instead make her first start since August on Saturday in the Spring Fever Stakes at Oaklawn Park. That removes one potential pace player, and another, A Thousand Reasons, isn’t certain to race, either. A Thousand Reasons has won four of five dirt starts, all at Delta Downs, and finished fourth at Indiana Grand in her only grass race. Her trainer, Tom Amoss, said a decision on whether to race or scratch wouldn’t be made until Monday morning.

If the two pace players come out it could leave Unbridled Class alone on the lead, and with that trip in the Menard she never was headed and won by nearly three lengths. Unbridled Class, an Indiana-bred trained by Bernie Flint, was just short of 26-1 in the Menard. That price was much too high considering her previous Fair Grounds grass form and will be coming way down Tuesday with or without other pace rivals.

Hotshot Anna’s trip in the Menard started off badly and didn’t get much better. She broke poorly, was checked shortly after the start, tried to move up through traffic past the three-furlong pole, and by the time Hotshot Anna had room to operate, Unbridled Class was long gone. James Graham takes the mount from Santo Sanjur for Monday’s race, and while Hotshot Anna prefers synthetic surfaces, she’s a three-time winner from five turf starts at this distance.

Break Even won’t start but Cox and Klein Racing probably still have the Mardi Gras favorite in Play On. A 4-year-old homebred by Country Day, Play On was second by a head to Hotshot Anna in the Richie Scherer Memorial on Nov. 30, won the Pan Zareta by 1 1/4 lengths a month later, and chased Unbridled Class home for the place spot in the Menard.

“I think she’ll be tough to beat if she runs that same race,” Cox said, though an outside draw in post 11 – Play On will move in at least one stall – won’t help her chances.

Drawn one gate outside Play On is a new player in the division, Bell’s the One, who couldn’t repeat the performance level that landed her the Grade 2 Raven Run in October at Keeneland when she finished an even fifth Dec. 28 in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita. Bell’s the One almost certainly prefers more distance than she gets Tuesday and trainer Neil Pessin said he’s using the Mardi Gras as a springboard to the Grade 1 Madison Stakes in April at Keeneland.

The Mardi Gras (race 8, post time 3:53 p.m. Central) drew an overflow field of 13 and includes a few other horses with an outside shot – Lake Local, Eyeinthesky, and Change of Control.