Maxfield reboots again in Mineshaft Stakes

Away from the races, Maxfield’s career has been marked by setbacks. He’s had two injuries that required long layoffs, and after returning from the most recent of those Maxfield caught a virus in December that swept through the Fair Grounds backstretch and cost him any chance at January racing.

In races, Maxfield’s career is unblemished. Four starts, four wins, and a chance to emerge as a leading older dirt-route horse in America, if not beyond, during 2021. Maxfield will be heavily favored to run his record to 5 for 5 Saturday at Fair Grounds in the Grade 3, $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes.

:: Want to get your Past Performances for free? Click to learn more.

A Godolphin homebred by Street Sense out of Velvety, by Bernardini, Maxfield won his one-turn-mile career debut at Churchill Downs and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland during the fall of 2019 and shipped to Santa Anita as one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, only to be scratched with an ankle injury. Back racing in May 2020, Maxfield bossed a decent bunch of rivals in the Matt Winn Stakes, but before he could race again suffered a fractured cannon bone during a workout. Both injuries required surgery but Maxfield looked no worse for wear when trainer Brendan Walsh got him back to racing in the Dec. 19 Tenacious Stakes, which Maxfield won by a comfortable 2 1/2 lengths, showing more positional pace than ever before.

Not long after that start, Maxfield came down with a cold that cost him no more than a week’s worth of training, and Walsh said that illness gives him zero pause coming into the 1 1/16-mile Mineshaft.

“He’s in pretty good nick now,” Walsh said. “I was down [at Fair Grounds] all last week and he worked good there the two times I saw him. He’s never been an extravagant work horse, but his work has gotten better and better.”

Florent Geroux rode Maxfield for the first time in the Tenacious and has the mount again Saturday. The pair breaks from post 4, and if Maxfield employs the same style as he did in December he ought to slot into a stalking trip behind Wells Bayou and Blackberry Wine.

Blackberry Wine was cross entered in the Fair Grounds Stakes but only would run there if the race comes off turf, which seems unlikely. Last month in the Louisiana Stakes, Blackberry Wine set a slow pace but was run down by Title Ready, who is passing this spot. Wells Bayou, making his first start since winning the Louisiana Derby last March, tracked Blackberry Wine in the Louisiana and ran evenly to the wire for third. Wells Bayou, who gets a jockey switch from Geroux to John Velazquez, has since turned in two sharp Fair Grounds breezes and figures to improve Saturday.

“He’s stepped it up his last two works,” trainer Brad Cox said.

The real wild card is Enforceable, among the best 3-year-olds last winter at Fair Grounds, but mainly a disappointment since a second-place finish in a division of the Risen Star a year ago. In a Jan. 17 second-level allowance race, however, Enforceable ran the fastest race of his career, powering to an eight-length victory that produced a field-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure. If he can repeat that performance, Enforceable might upset the favorite.

Chess Chief, third in the 2020 New Orleans Handicap, is a sneaky player, too, though the horse has been win-shy during his career. He tried to hang while winning a second-level allowance race Dec. 18 and has since been pointed to this spot.

“He’s actually gotten better working out,” said trainer Dallas Stewart. “He had been kind of a sloppy work horse, but he’s really been picking his head up in the morning.”

Dinar and Sonneman, decent horses in their own right, complete the field.

Fair Grounds Stakes

He’s back.

In 2019, after leaving trainer Brad Cox’s barn in Kentucky, Factor This went straight to Fair Grounds, where he won the Fair Grounds Stakes last February and ran even better winning the Muniz Memorial in March.

In 2020, after leaving Kentucky, Factor This set up shop with Cox’s new string in Florida. On Dec. 12 in the Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream, Factor This got caught up in a hot pace and faded to finish a flat eighth. Cox left Factor This at the Palm Meadows Training Center to keep working but now has brought him back to Fair Grounds for a bid at repeat success Saturday in the Fair Grounds Stakes and, if that goes well, in the Muniz next month.

Factor This had a tremendous 2020 season, winning the two Fair Grounds races among five stakes wins over four courses, and finishing second in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill last September. He plays the game on the front and has the speed to make the lead and get over to what figures to be the best part of the Fair Grounds course, the rail, and will be difficult to beat if he’s the same horse now he was a year ago.

“Watching him breeze on turf at Palm Meadows, I feel like he’s doing every bit as well as he was last year,” Cox said, referring, in particular, to a five-furlong drill in 58.80 on Jan. 31.

:: Start earning weekly cashback on your wagering today. Click to learn more.

Dontblamerocket also had a good 2020 Fair Grounds turf run, winning the Colonel Bradley in January and finishing second in the Muniz. He hasn’t raced since September, but comes into Saturday’s start with a solid chance.

“He’s doing as good as I’ve ever seen him do,” said trainer Norm Casse. “I really think he runs his best races fresh, so I’m extremely confident coming into this race.”

All credit to the improved Logical Myth and his team, but the gelding got perfect trips winning the Buddy Diliberto Memorial in December and the Colonel Bradley last month.

Danceteria had high-level 2019 European form before struggling during an Australian campaign in 2020, and was an encouraging second in a Gulfstream allowance race making his North American debut for trainer Graham Motion. Spectacular Gem is drawn wide and could inject pace. Set Piece is 2 for 2 racing in blinkers, excelling over Turfway’s synthetic surface this winter.

◗ The $100,000 Colonel Power came up tough, but if Manny Wah can work out another rail-skimming trip, like he did acing his grass debut in the Duncan Kenner last month at Fair Grounds, he can win again. Manny Wah is drawn on the fence with noted inside rider Miguel Mena back aboard. The Colonel Power is carded as race 7, and is the first stakes on the Saturday card.