Ideal spot? Young thinks so

NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Troy Young has half of the battle figured out with Grey Ide Man: He knows which surface the horse prefers.

"I think he moves up a long way on the turf," Young said.

Grey Ide Man's ideal distance, though, is still a work in progress.

"I think 5 1/2 furlongs at the Fair Grounds will hit it on the head," said Young. "I'm hoping it's going to be his ideal distance."

As part of his distance experiment, Young has Grey Ide Man entered in Sunday's feature at Fair Grounds, a first-level allowance for Louisiana breds going 5 1/2 furlongs over the turf.

Grey Ide Man comes into the race off of a second-place finish Nov. 20 over the Fair Grounds turf in a $20,000 claiming affair. In that race, he nearly wired the field but was caught in the long stretch, losing by a half-length.

Young said the race gave him confidence that he had found the preferred surface for Grey Ide Man.

"He has not run a bad race on grass yet," said Young. "And with the way that the turf course at the Fair Grounds favors the closers, I thought the five and a half would be better than the seven and a half."

Grey Ide Man's last victory came over the main track at Fair Grounds, when he went six furlongs to win a $12,500 claiming race on March 13. In that race, he came just off the pace to win by 3 3/4 lengths.

Grey Ide Man will face a full field of 10, including Rew's Blues, who has spent a lot of his racing life picking up the small checks in statebred stakes races. With a second and three fourth-place finishes in stakes races, Rew's Blues holds a class edge over the rest of the field, though he has shown a distinct aversion to winning since winning his maiden last October.

With rain in the forecast for the weekend, Beaudacious Hit is entered for the main track only, and it looks like he would fit in well if he makes it to the starting gate. Claimed out of his last race for $10,000 by Cody Autrey, his string of works at Fair Grounds would indicate he is ready for this class level.

* Heading into the weekend as the leading rider, jockey James Graham will be out of town Sunday as he travels to Remington to ride Comedero in the $200,000 Springboard Mile.