Manny Wah looks to have found new home on turf

The paucity of older male dirt sprints on the Fair Grounds stakes schedule has opened a new world for the 5-year-old horse Manny Wah.

For lack of a dirt option, Manny Wah’s connections tried turf for the first time in the $100,000 Duncan Kenner Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds. Making his 31st start, Manny Wah loved it, roaring from last to first, winning going away, and earning a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He really looked great,” said Wayne Catalano, who trains Manny Wah for Susan Moulton. “The way he ran, we’ll probably keep him on grass.”

Catalano said Manny Wah already had been invited to the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint on the March 27 Dubai World Cup undercard. That’s a long way off, and Manny Wah’s next start could come Feb. 13 in the Albert Stall Memorial, another Fair Grounds turf-sprint stakes.

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Manny Wah also has proven a capable dirt horse, with Catalano still ruing the extremely troubled trip Manny Wah endured finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, won by Whitmore. “If we get the trip the winner gets, I think we win it,” he said.

Lil Tootsie could stretch out

On a day filled with strangely slow fractions in dirt route races, there was nothing slow about Lil Tootsie’s final time in a 3-year-old maiden filly sprint.

Starting in the second race Saturday and racing for the second time after a runner-up debut finish behind talented filly Mariah’s Princess, Lil Tootsie pulled away to a four-length win while running six furlongs in 1:09.85. That time was good for an 89 Beyer Speed Figure, and while the year is young, the number is the highest in 2021 for a 3-year-old filly.

“She’s a really good horse,” said Tom Amoss, who trains the filly for Joel Politi. “I was so disappointed when she lost first time out.”

Lil Tootsie rates well, Amoss said, and “is made a like a horse who can go long,” but she is by Tapiture and out of a sprint mare by the sprinter Dayjur.

“I hope I’m wrong, but the pedigree says sprint,” Amoss said.

Still, Lil Tootsie, Amoss said, could race next in the 1 1/16-mile Rachel Alexandra on Feb. 13. “We’ll stretch her out and see how she can do two turns,” he said.

Amoss and Politi also ran Littlestitious on Saturday in the Silverbulletday, but after leading through a half-mile in nearly 50 seconds, a walking pace, she faded to finish fifth. Odds-on favorite Sun Path pressed the pace and wound up fourth.