Maker, Kaplan have top contenders on stakes-rich card
BOSSIER CITY, La. – Trainers Mike Maker and Bill Kaplan send out two of the chief contenders in Saturday’s Grade 2 Super Derby, but long before Vicar’s in Trouble and East Hall meet in the season’s richest race at Louisiana Downs, the horsemen will be battling in a pair of 2-year-old turf stakes.
The $75,000 Sunday Silence and the $75,000 Happy Ticket are among the six stakes supporting the Super Derby and each will be run over a mile, with the Sunday Silence previously having produced starters for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. The Happy Ticket is for 2-year-old fillies and starts an all-stakes pick four that runs on races 8-11. The bet has a guaranteed pool of $100,000.
Maker will be represented by Know It All Anna and La Rambla in the Happy Ticket, while Kaplan will counter with Naval Command. In the Sunday Silence, which last year sent Got Shades to the Breeders’ Cup, Maker will start Task Force Glory, and Kaplan will start My Point Exactly.
Sunday Silence (Race 6)
KEY CONTENDERS
My Point Exactly (Last 3 Beyers: 70-39-46)
◗ He will be making his two-turn debut following a maiden special weight score in a one-turn, one-mile race at Gulfstream Park.
“I’m looking forward to going two turns with him,” Kaplan said. “He’s coming off a big race at Gulfstream. He won by 10 lengths going away. He’s been screaming for more distance all along.”
◗ He’s raced once on turf and was seventh in a five-furlong sprint at Gulfstream that went in 56.80 seconds June 27.
“He did run his first race on turf and didn’t seem to mind it,” Kaplan said. “It was a very fast race. He never was [meant to be] a sprinter.”
Task Force Glory (Last Beyer: 61)
◗ He’s a maiden facing winners but owns one of the field’s best turf Beyer Speed Figures for his runner-up finish in a grass route at Indiana Grand in his career debut Aug. 5. It’ll Be Fine edged him by a half-length in the maiden special weight race and returns in the Sunday Silence.
◗ Task Force Glory is a half-brother to Gung Ho, whom Maker sent out to win the Sunday Silence in 2011.
Happy Ticket (Race 8)
KEY CONTENDERS
Naval Command (Last 2 Beyers: 67-51)
◗ She’s a candidate to wire the field off a front-running allowance win at 6 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream. She romped by 9 1/2 lengths, one start after a runner-up finish in the $77,000 Cassidy at Gulfstream.
“She’s a very talented filly whom I’m working on trying to get a little more relaxed,” Kaplan said. “She’s learning. She’s progressing nicely. I wanted to get her around two turns.”
◗ Naval Command will be making her turf debut, and her sire has had limited turf starters.
“Turf is a big question,” Kaplan said. “I don’t know. I’ve never had her on it.”
Know It All Anna (Last 3 Beyers: 63-44-61)
◗ She was a $50,000 claim out of a maiden win last month at Saratoga by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. She is to make her two-turn debut in the Happy Ticket and was an appealing claim for several reasons, said Maker.
“She’s just a beautiful filly,” he said. “And it looked like she would appreciate further distance. I thought this race would be a good fit if she came out of her last one in good order, and I like what I’ve seen.”
Lady Rambla (Last 2 Beyers: 65-54)
◗ She missed by a neck in a maiden special weight race at two turns on turf at Indiana Grand in her last start Aug. 6.
“She was unlucky to lose last time,” Maker said. “She got beat a couple of inches, and [had she won], we would have been [in this stakes] anyway.”
◗ Edgar Prado has the mount on Lady Rambla, while Rosie Napravnik will ride Know It All Anna.
Older runners on grass
The card also has a pair of $75,000 turf stakes for 3-year-olds and up, with the Unbridled and the River Cites, restricted to fillies and mares, both at 1 1/16 miles. Maker will be active in each race, with Coalport taking on local favorite String King in the Unbridled and Sassy Kitten the possible favorite in the River Cities.
Sassy Kitten won the off-the-turf West Virginia Senate President’s Cup at Mountaineer in her last start Aug. 2. The race was her first in blinkers, and she increased her advantage through the stretch in the $100,000 stakes.
“I think the blinkers helped her tremendously last time,” Maker said. “She has the tendency, when she gets the lead, to wander a little bit. She’ll be running first time on the turf with blinkers [Saturday].”
Sassy Kitten is 3 for 5 on turf.
◗ There are two $100,000 divisions of the Louisiana Stallion Stakes for 2-year-olds, with Kylie’s Cutie returning to racing with fillies in one and Union Builder, sold for $90,000 at auction Wednesday, entered in the males’ division.