Lucky Move up against it in Sunday allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Marshall Gramm likes Lucky Move, but maybe not all that much Sunday. The co-founder of Ten Strike Racing believes the pace scenario in the Churchill Downs feature could work against the late-running mare, and he’ll keep his hands in his pockets.

“She’s been a good claim for us already,” said Gramm, referring to a July 25 victory at Saratoga in one of her three starts under the purple and black Ten Strike silks. “But I won’t be betting because it looks like she’ll need some pace to close into.”

Don’t get him wrong – Lucky Move, a Lookin At Lucky mare trained by Bentley Combs, is entirely capable of rallying to victory in the ninth of 10 Sunday races, a $97,000 first-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles. It’s just that Gramm, a statistical wunderkind and high-level horseplayer who is a professor of economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, is ever the realist.

“She’s a New York-bred who we claimed mostly to run in two-turn races at Saratoga and Aqueduct,” said Gramm. “Besides, I’m a big fan of Lookin At Lucky. He tends to get horses that develop later and do their best going long on the dirt.”

Lucky Move, with Miguel Mena riding, is among the likely favorites in a field of eight. She’ll effectively be competing for $66,000, given that $31,000 of the total purse is available only to horses registered to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

Gramm said Ten Strike is a “big supporter of Kentucky racing,” as evidenced by the fact the sprawling ownership syndicator employs five different trainers in this state and another handful elsewhere. “You’re still running for big money, even without being Kentucky-bred. We’ll probably run Lucky Move at Keeneland next month before sending her to Aqueduct for the winter.”

Among the Sunday opponents who’ll be looking to take a tactical edge on Lucky Move are Nikki Beach, a two-back romping winner in a maiden-special sprint at Ellis Park, and Gorgeous in Rags, who also recently broke through with a good-looking maiden-special victory going a mile at the western Kentucky track.

The feature is actually the second of two filly-mare allowances on a 10-race card. The opener (12:45 p.m. Eastern) is a $99,000 second-level turf route that will have Ulele, runner-up to Point of Honor in the Black Eyed Susan Stakes in May, making her grass debut in a short field.

After Sunday, Churchill goes dark for three days before the final four-day stretch of the 11-day September meet starts Thursday, with first post at 5 p.m. Keeneland starts its fall meet Oct. 4.