Monte Man back on dirt for repeat bid in La. Legends Sprint

Monte Man will be moving back to dirt Saturday night when he attempts to win the $75,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint for the second year in a row at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La.

The 5 1/2-furlong race is one of six stakes worth a cumulative $450,000 on the annual Louisiana Legends Night program. The stakes cater to various divisions, and each is restricted to horses bred in Louisiana. There will be a pick four on races 4-7 that has a minimum guaranteed pool of $50,000, according to Chris Warren, director of racing for Evangeline.

Monte Man, who earlier in his career was based in New York, won his first seven races in Louisiana, a streak that ran from December 2017 to last November. During that period, he made one start at Evangeline and was a 1 3/4-length winner of the Legends Sprint. He enters this year’s race off a runner-up finish in the $60,000 Costa Rising, a turf race run at about 5 1/2 furlongs in which he was beaten a neck March 23 at Fair Grounds.

“He’s probably better on the dirt,” said Ron Faucheux, who trains Monte Man for Ivery Sisters Racing. “I think he could have definitely won the last race on the turf, but I just think he kind of ran out of ground. The jock said he wasn’t getting a hold of the turf early on in the race, and he kind of got a little further back than he wanted to be.

“He’s a horse, the surface I don’t think it matters to him. I think he kind of runs on anything.”

Gerard Melancon, who was aboard Monte Man for last year’s Legends Sprint, has the mount from post 4 in the eight-horse field Saturday.

The Legends Sprint goes as the eighth race on a 10-race program that starts at 5:50 p.m. Central.

Other top sprinters on the card include Ours to Run, who has won stakes in her last five starts and who goes in the $75,000 Louisiana Legends Mademoiselle.