Little separates four sprinters in feature

NEW ORLEANS – Small but select: The cliché fits the featured fifth race Sunday at Fair Grounds like – another cliché – a glove.

Five horses – Take It Like a Man, Bet Seattle, Afford, Too Dim, and Rise Up – were entered in a six-furlong main-track dash with multiple allowance conditions. There’s a $62,500 claiming option, but no one is entered for the tag.

The race was in the condition book in a slightly different fashion but was rewritten and used as an extra when entries were taken. The change qualified Too Dim, and with five entrants, the racing office let the race go.

Afford has his work cut out, but without contorting, a case can be made for the other four. Take It Like a Man, claimed two starts ago for $32,000, makes his first start since the Thanksgiving Handicap, where he finished a distant second to the buzz-saw Delaunay.

Bet Seattle just was a tough-trip third to Delaunay and Heitai in the Bonapaw Stakes.

Too Dim has beaten Heitai twice at this meet in Louisiana-bred sprint races.

Rise Up exits a win in an off-the-turf edition of the Woodchopper Stakes and may have a bright future sprinting.

KEY CONTENDERS

Too Dim (Last 3 Beyers: 97-96-83)

◗ Eight starts, six wins at Fair Grounds, and the most recent, the Dec. 13 Louisiana Champions Day Sprint, was memorable. Away from the gates “6-7 lengths slow,” according to the official chart, Too Dim still had eight lengths to make up on Heitai at the stretch call. He nailed him at the wire.

◗Miguel Mena rode Too Dim for the first time Nov. 23. “We learned something that day,” trainer Eddie Johnston said. “Miguel said as soon as he got him to the fence, he took off. We’ll try to find the rail again.”

FORMULATOR FACT: Johnston, over the last five years at Fair Grounds, is 23-9-5-2 with a $2.53 return on investment in dirt-sprint allowance races.

Bet Seattle (Last 3 Beyers: 92-93-96)

◗Won 5 of 6 starts in 2014, a breakout season at age 5.

◗Was compromised breaking from the rail Jan. 3 in the off-the-turf Bonapaw. Had a stop-and-start trip in tight quarters and never really got to run freely.

◗Might outbreak Rise Up and control the pace.

Rise Up (Last 3 Beyers: 84-88-73)

◗The 2013 Delta Jackpot winner will be redeveloped as a sprinter this season, according to trainer Tom Amoss. “The turnback in distance is something I’ve really been looking forward to,” Amoss said. “We have a good post on the outside, too.”

FORMULATOR FACT: Amoss, over the last five years, is 37-15-5-8 with a $2.94 ROI while turning back horses from routes to sprints in allowance races on dirt.