Into Mystic will celebrate Mardis Gras, turf or dirt

Before she was switched to grass racing last May, a move that led to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in November, Into Mystic ran some fast races on dirt, too, and that could come in handy Tuesday at Fair Grounds.

Tuesday, Mardi Gras day in New Orleans, is forecast to be unseasonably cold, with a high temperature of only 40 degrees, and if Monday’s forecast for plenty of rain holds, the chilly air will limit the grass course’s drying and the featured Mardi Gras Stakes could be moved from turf to dirt.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, Into Mystic got caught up in a hot BC Turf Sprint pace and faded to finish 12th, but that is no real stain on her record and her six other turf starts have been strong enough to win the 5 1/2-furlong Mardi Gras. It also doesn’t hurt that she drew post 1; with the temporary turf rail down, inside paths often are the best part of the Fair Grounds course, especially later in the racing season.

Into Mystic, in fact, might’ve lost the Pan Zareta Stakes two back on the Fair Grounds grass course because she wound up several paths wide as victorious Elle Z led and skimmed the rail. Elle Z is back in the Mardi Gras, too, and after upsetting the Pan Zareta she validated that performance with a solid second-place finish behind Into Mystic in the Jan. 9 Nelson Menard Memorial. Elle Z breaks from post 2 and if she can find the front without too much exertion, she also looks like a win candidate. Where Elle Z appears to need turf for her best, Into Mystic is 4-0-1 from seven starts on a fast track.

Trainer Al Stall entered two here but Dalika was to start in a Saturday race. In Good Spirits runs and Stall got what he was looking for – a stronger finish – when he cut In Good Spirits back from eight route races to try a turf sprint Jan. 30 at Fair Grounds. In Good Spirits won that second-level allowance comfortably enough and would benefit from a strong, contested pace Tuesday.

Ready for Change tries a stakes race in her second career start but the 4-year-old Neil Pessin-trained filly hardly could have been more impressive winning an off-turf maiden sprint by more than 11 lengths on Jan. 14. She’s bred to handle turf, too, but obviously is trying an entirely different class of opponent than she beat first time out.

◗ The nine-race card ends with what looks like a hot six-furlong maiden race for 3-year-olds. Wild for Wycliff set a very strong pace making his career debut Jan. 30, succumbing late and finishing third in a race won by He’s In Charge, who earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. Wild for Wycliff is favorably drawn on the far outside Tuesday but once-started Warrant as well as first-timers Continental Coins and Koolhaus, if not others, hint at having talent above par.