Louisiana Futurity divisions have differing storylines

Odds-on favorite Secret Faith would need serious and sudden form erosion to lose the fillies division of the Louisiana Futurity on Sunday at Fair Grounds, but Smokem Wicked has less margin for error in the colts and geldings division.

Both races, with a base $100,000 purse, challenge the top participants’ sturdiness since all of them ran just two weekends ago on Louisiana Champions Day. Smoken Wicked won the Juvenile on that Dec. 14 card, while Secret Faith took a tough – and probably unnecessary – loss to a filly named Blue Fire.

Blue Fire doesn’t come back in the Futurity, leaving Secret Faith an absolute standout in a field of eight Louisiana-bred juvenile fillies. Secret Faith, an Aurelius Maximus filly trained for the Norman Stables by Jayde Gelner, won her first five starts, four of those by six lengths or more. On Beyer Speed Figures, the 88 she put up in the Champions Day Lassie marked a career peak by eight points, yet Secret Faith, more than nine lengths clear of the third-place finisher, nonetheless suffered her first defeat.

At the head of the homestretch, cruising into contention, Secret Faith passed Blue Fire and looked like she’d coast to another easy score, but Blue Fire fought back and began gaining again at the furlong grounds, all while Secret Faith’s jockey continued to only casually encourage his mount. By the time her rider realized the urgency of the matter, Blue Fire had the momentum and won by a head.

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All this came after Secret Faith underwent a needlessly complicated trip Nov. 23 in the Donovan Ferguson Stakes, eventually winning by open lengths after finding her way into the clear. Florent Geroux rides the filly for the first time Sunday and probably will be sitting on a 1-5 winner.

Smoken Wicked, owned by Valene Farms, began his career in Louisiana with trainer Sturges Ducoing but showed too much talent in a winning debut to keep at home. Murray Valene sent the Bobby’s Wicked One colt to trainer Dallas Stewart in Kentucky, Stewart brought Smoken Wicked to Saratoga, and there he finished third in the Saratoga Special and a respectable fourth in the Grade 1 Hopeful. After regressing in the Futurity at Aqueduct, Smoken Wicked went back to Kentucky and crushed first-level Churchill Downs allowance foes, a start that preceded his two-length tally in the Champions Juvenile.

Smoken Wicked has posted Beyer Speed Figures of 89 and 92 in his last two wins, and normally figures like that would overwhelm restricted competition like he faces Sunday. That’s not the case. Tdz Hint of Power got an 84 winning in August and came back with an 82 in the Juvenile after setting a fast pace. Still, Voila Magic leads the list of plausible upsetters.

Voila Magic could only finish fourth on Champions Day but races in blinkers for the first time in the Futurity, and if ever a young horse looked like he’d benefit from that equipment change, it’s Voila Magic.

Even winning his debut at Keeneland by nearly six lengths, Voila Magic failed to switch leads while racing somewhat greenly. He has similarly failed to entirely apply himself in his two starts against other winners, and Voila Magic, clearly talented, has the capacity to improve enough to defeat Smoken Wicked at the end of the latter’s long, demanding campaign.

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◗ The 2-year-old Gunmetal scored a debut win of note in Thursday’s eighth race, running six furlongs in 1:09.48, a raw time good for an eye-catching 96 Beyer. A Gun Runner colt trained by Brad Cox, Gunmetal was all out to wear down the Steve Asmussen-trained first-time starter Prime Power, who eventually succumbed to a 1 1/4-length defeat while finishing more than seven lengths clear of third and posting a 92 Beyer of his own.

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