Mizz Money, America Mon Amie meet again in Pago Hop

Some races prove difficult to assess because information comes from too narrow a band – a race, say, where many of the horses ran against each other in their most recent start. The data provided lack dynamism and have no life. Well, the $75,000 Pago Hop, a one-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Fair Grounds, is absolutely nothing like that.

Consider that the 14 horses in the field’s main body last raced at six different venues and seven different class levels, from first-level allowance to Grade 1 stakes. Winston Churchill’s famous remark about Russia – “… a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” – can aptly be applied.

The filly coming out of the Grade 1 is Mizz Money, though she was no more than a brief pace presence before fading to a distant ninth in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup two months ago at Keeneland. No such wilting took place when Mizz Money raced at Fair Grounds, where she won all three of her grass starts last season, and she proved her quality by winning the Grade 3 Pucker Up this summer at Arlington.

Mizz Money breaks from post 13 but likes to race on the lead, and with other speed in the race, she might be forced to contest an imprudent pace after being hustled for early position. Trainer Bobby Barnett saddles the filly Saturday with trainer Bernie Flint serving a suspension.

America Mon Amie was shipping this week from Tampa Bay Downs, the Pago Hop an attractive spot as a late-season age-restricted stakes. America Mon Amie is a much better horse than she showed in finishing ninth against older horses over yielding ground last out in the Grade 3 Cardinal at Churchill Downs, and she had a troubled trip when a close fourth two races ago at Indiana Grand. Mizz Money beat her in the Pucker Up, but America Mon Amie beat Mizz Money at Canterbury.

Counterfactual was third last out to two decent older mares, Zubi Zubi Zu and Eden Prairie, in a third-level Fair Grounds optional claimer, but she lacks an explosive finish and probably will always be vulnerable to a sharper turn of foot. Run Zippy Run exits a local second-level turf optional-claiming win, and trainer Al Stall said the filly has thrived in New Orleans, but she has a grinding style like Counterfactual’s.

The horse who showed real spark last out, albeit in a first-level allowance, is Fila Primera, who made a couple of moves and threaded through traffic to win going away with a fast final quarter-mile Nov. 28 at Fair Grounds. She has pleased trainer Mike Stidham in her training since that race and appears to have untapped upside that could be manifest at a square price Saturday.

Rematch in Pan Zareta

Super Saks and House of Sole, who ran one-two in the Dream Supreme last month at Churchill, look like the main players in the $60,000 Pan Zareta, a dirt sprint for fillies and mares on Saturday’s card. Unfortunately, they also are about the only players in a race that drew just five entrants and is likely to scratch down to four, with Adrianne G’s camp probably awaiting a turf race.

Super Saks held off House of Sole by three-quarters of a length in the Dream Supreme, but she’s a front-runner who figures to face protracted pace pressure from the fast filly Thirteen Arrows. House of Sole has an outside draw and should fall into a perfect stalking trip under leading rider Colby Hernandez.