Lady Fog Horn may be vulnerable in Richmond Stakes

It’s very rare to find a 2-5 shot on a morning line in a race with as many as nine entrants, but that is the vaunted position Lady Fog Horn holds in the Richmond Stakes, one of four $100,000 stakes Wednesday at Indiana Grand for Indiana-bred horses sired by Indiana-registered stallions.

And here’s the thing: Lady Fog Horn is vulnerable.

Lady Fog Horn is one of the best – if not the best – Indiana-bred females in recent years. She won the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap last fall at Churchill Downs, and has dominated statebred-restricted competition on both turf and dirt. But Lady Fog Horn has not been quite right in awhile now. She won a turf allowance race July 4 at Indiana Grand, but hasn’t raced since and has posted only two workouts in the nearly three months between starts.

“We’ve had some issues with her muscles and some things,” said Tony Granitz, who trains Lady Fog Horn for Stuart Grant’s The Elkstone Group. “She’s been swimming, but she missed some training. She worked good Friday, but we did lose two weeks of training. I told Stuart that I don’t know how tight we have her. We know she’s not 100-percent tight, but we’re going to take our shot.”

Peyton’s Pass won the Merrillville Stakes sprinting last out, and while she capitalized on a racing surface that carried her speed that day, she’s won before at the 1 1/16-mile distance of Wednesday’s race and figures to go straight to the front from the rail. Express Run and Joyous Lady also are worth a look.

While the favorite isn’t at her best in the Richmond, the shorter prices in the Gus Grissom for older horses at 1 1/16 miles appear to be at the wrong distance.

Supreme Justice, the 3-1 morning-line favorite, has run seven races in a row that would make him formidable in the Grissom – if the race were a sprint. Supreme Justice has barely even dabbled in route racing during a 39-start career, and is no sure thing to stay. Nor is his stablemate Operation Stevie, while the 2016 Grissom runner-up, Derby Express, doesn’t seem quite as good this year and could get caught up in a fast pace. The Grissom is open to just about anyone.

Two-year-old stakes wide open

Granitz starts a 10-1 morning-line shot named Blue Hen Hockey in the Indiana Stallion Stakes for 2-year-old fillies who looks like a more appealing play than Lady Fog Horn. Blue Hen Hockey is a once-started maiden, but she finished well for third Sept. 22 after being badly compromised by a poor start.

“She came running and galloped out good,” Granitz said. “I let her gallop out of the gate Saturday. With these babies you don’t know. She’s training great.”

Blue Hen Hockey wouldn’t have to improve much to win. Encrusted, who won the maiden race in which Blue Hen Hockey finished third, is the 3-1 morning-line favorite.

It’s a similar situation in the Crown Ambassador, which is open to 2-year-olds of either sex. Its Just Fate was the 1-2 favorite for the Sept. 13 Hillsdale Stakes after two easy wins to start his career, but faded to eighth after contesting a strong pace. Perhaps he can rebound, but early speed abounds again in the Crown Ambassador, and Mo Money, the Hillsdale third-place finisher, looks like the one to take advantage.