Monte Man rides win streak into Louisiana Cup Sprint

Monte Man will be looking to win his sixth straight race Saturday in the $60,000 Louisiana Cup Sprint at Louisiana Downs.

Monte Man was claimed last fall in New York and had never raced with Louisiana-breds until he began his win streak in December. Now, he is 5 for 5 against statebreds.

“We want to keep it going,” said Ron Faucheux, who trains Monte Man for Ivery Sisters Racing.

The Louisiana Cup comprises six divisional stakes for Louisiana-breds on a card that also features the $60,000 Prelude, the local prep for the Super Derby. The Louisiana Cup races are worth $60,000 each after a recent $10,000 boost per division from the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

“I would hope they would stay at that level,” said Roger Heitzmann, executive director of the LTBA. “Our projections look as though we’ll have this money moving forward.”

Monte Man was a $25,000 claim last October at Belmont Park, and since then he’s won three stakes. He hasn’t raced since May 26, when he proved 1 3/4 lengths best in the Louisiana Legends Sprint at Evangeline Downs.

“This is the next step in the Louisiana series of stakes for statebreds, and with a nice horse, we didn’t really care about trying to find a spot in between,” Faucheux said. “We just wanted to keep him fresh, happy and have him ready to go for this spot. We trained him right into the race. A hot Louisiana summer, sometimes it’s good not to overrun them over the summer.”

Monte Man will break from post 7 in the field of 12 under Gerard Melancon.

“He’s won out of all posts, but I do think it’s to his advantage when he’s a little further on the outside,” Faucheux said. “But the 7 hole should be fine. He’s kind of a stalk-and-pounce type.”

Faucheux said he likes the move back to six furlongs after Monte Man ran at shorter distances in his last three starts: the Premier Night Sprint at Delta Downs, the Costa Rising at Fair Grounds, and the Louisiana Legends.

“I think six furlongs is a better distance for him,” he said.

The chief threats appear to be Sir Genghis and Cheers to Berti.

Iona Guitar in Juvenile Fillies

Iona Guitar, who has been one of the most impressive 2-year-old winners in the region, gets tested for class when she makes her stakes debut against Atchata and Silvercents in the Louisiana Cup Juvenile Fillies. The six-furlong race is the first stakes on the Saturday card, which starts at 3:15 p.m. Central.

Atchata was a maiden special weight winner at Belmont, and in her last start she captured a division of the D.S. “Shine” Young Memorial Futurity at Evangeline Downs. Silvercents was the runner-up in a division of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity last month at Lone Star Park.

Iona Guitar debuted July 7 at Louisiana Downs, winning a maiden special weight for statebreds by 3 1/4 lengths. She covered 4 1/2 furlongs in a sharp 52.40 seconds and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 74, the best number given to a 2-year-old in the Southwest in 2018.

Iona Guitar will break from post 5 in the field of eight and will be ridden by Colby Hernandez.

“She’s a real speed horse,” said trainer Al Stall Jr.

“I think the draw is going to help her. The things that worry me are experience and going from 4 1/2 to three-quarters. It doesn’t sound like a huge stretch-out, but for a second-time starter it can be.”

Iona Guitar is by Star Guitar and races for the Brittlyn Stable, which has six horses in the Louisiana Cup.

◗ Another starter for Brittlyn and Stall is Wild About Star, who will be looking to win at two turns for the first time in the $60,000 Distaff. The 1 1/16-mile turf race is for fillies and mares. Wild About Star enters off back-to-back turf-sprint wins at Fair Grounds and Evangeline.

“This is her stakes debut,” Stall said, noting that Wild About Star’s full sister, the Brittlyn-bred stakes winner Minit to Stardom, is to run Saturday in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga.

◗ Mageez moves back into statebred company for the Turf Classic off a runner-up finish to Big Changes in the John Henry at Evangeline.

◗ In the Filly and Mare Sprint, Efforting moves back to the six-furlong distance of her last win.

◗ Victory Trip, Beto, and Cabo’s Runner shake the vacationing Pickett in the Juvenile.