Nanda Dea not expected to run if Krantz is rained off turf

The Argentine import Didia, among the best female grass horses in North America the last two years, might be retired, but the South American pipeline remains open for Argentine-born trainer Ignacio Correas.

Correas, earlier in January, shipped Nanda Dea from Keeneland to Fair Grounds, where she worked six furlongs Sunday in 1:16.40 in preparation for a potential start Saturday in the $100,000 Marie Krantz Memorial Stakes. In South America, Nanda Dea finished second in her lone dirt race while performing well below the turf form that made her the champion Argentine miler of 2023, and Correas said Tuesday he doubted Nanda Dea would run if the Krantz gets move from turf to dirt. With an extended period of rain forecast Friday night into Saturday afternoon, that’s a possibility, but Correas isn’t sweating it.

The Krantz and whatever else comes up for Nanda Dea in New Orleans this winter serves as a bridge to more major summer turf races. Nanda Dea already has multiple Group 1s on her résumé and blitzed third-level allowance foes last October at Keeneland in her lone start since coming to North America.

“For those horses like her that have not been measured against the best in America, the Fair Grounds races like this can be kind to me and to them,” Correas said.

Correas used the Tom Benson Memorial in March 2023 at Fair Grounds as a building block toward Didia’s entree into top-level American racing.

And as Nanda Dea, a 6-year-old on Northern Hemisphere breeding time, winds up for her 2025 debut, her 5-year-old half-sister Nanabush arrives this week from Argentina, where she won 9 of 16 starts, most recently finishing second of 20 on Dec. 14 in the Group 1 Gran Premio Joaquin S. de Anchorena Internacional.

While Nanabush figures to spend several months acclimating to Northern Hemisphere time before Correas thinks about running her, Dona Clota, purchased in December by John Stewart’s Resolute Racing, runs fresh off the plane in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. A 3-year-old on Southern Hemisphere time, Dona Clota won two Group 1s in her native Chile before Stewart, who purchased an interest in Didia last year, bought her late last year with the Pegasus in mind.

Nanda Dea probably won’t run on dirt, but she loves softer turf – not that she’ll need special ground to win Saturday. Correas has high hopes for the mare this year. He’ll have others waiting in the wings.

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