Lauer entrants keys to A.J. Foyt, Florence Henderson stakes

A fairly important part of handicapping is knowing who’s actually running in the races at hand. And until scratch time Tuesday at Indiana Grand, that ain’t gonna be easy.

On tap are a pair of $100,000 Indiana-bred turf races, the Florence Henderson for fillies and mares (race 7, post time 4:53 Eastern) and the A.J. Foyt (race 8, 5:21). Both races, carded for 1 1/16 miles, drew full fields of 12.

The uncertainty regarding who will run isn’t weather related. The forecast calls for sun and a high temperature of 90 degrees, and the Indiana Grand course should be firm.

No, the question here is what Mike Lauer is going to do.

Lauer is the leading trainer by stakes win at the Indiana Grand meeting with four, and nearly all the best horses he trains he bred and owns with his wife, Penny. Lauer entered four in the Henderson and two in the Foyt. One of those in the Foyt is The Money Dance, who could well be the best two-turn Indiana-bred of his generation – on dirt. The Money Dance has open-company wins this year at Oaklawn Park and Belmont Park, and after stubbing his toe in the Hoosier Breeders’ Sophomore Stakes on June 20, he thumped Indiana-breds in the $155,000 Governor’s.

In June, Lauer tried The Money Dance on turf in the Grade 3 Arlington Classic and it didn’t work out. The Money Dance barely lifted a hoof, beaten 16 lengths. But was that a true billing?

“It rained the night before at Arlington, he had the one hole, the turf was pretty soft, and he didn’t care for it,” Lauer said. “I’m not throwing grass out for him yet. It will be firmer on Tuesday.”

But Lauer also must consider the fact there are upcoming statebred-restricted dirt stakes for The Money Dance, and that he might be wasting a start on turf.

“The Arlington race still haunts us a little bit,” said Lauer, who wouldn’t rule out a scratch as of Friday evening.

Earlier this meet, Lauer’s second entrant in the Foyt, In a Fog, nearly won the $105,000 Snack Stakes in his lone turf try, despite breaking from post 12. He drew the 12 hole again in the Foyt, but that’s less deleterious in this 1 1/16-mile race than it was in the one-mile Snack, which started just before the first turn.

Lauer’s pair has youth and upside in their corner, where many of the other possible players are twice their age or more. Four-year-old Retrospection is bred like a grass horse, but has been considerably better on dirt.

Lauer’s Henderson quartet consists of Miracles Take Time, Obsolete, Flurry, and Triple A. Triple A is stuck on the also-eligible list but is the one horse among the four who might be clearly better on grass than dirt.

“Turf seems to move her up,” Lauer said. “I’d like to get her into the race.”

Flurry was cross-entered in the $200,000 Indiana Grand, an open turf stakes on Wednesday, but drew post 12 in that race. Lauer said he’s leaning toward racing her in the Henderson. Obsolete won the Ellen’s Lucky Star, restricted to 3-year-old fillies, by a narrow margin over Triple A, but Triple A was compromised racing well behind a walking pace. Miracles Take Time had serious trouble that day and might be just as good as those two.

Marina’s Legacy – not trained by Lauer – was made the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the Henderson, a race she won last year as a 3-year-old. She drew post 12 for the 2018 edition.