Needs Supervision faces a couple of good ones in Silverbulletday
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
NEW ORLEANS – Jerry O’Dwyer used to gallop horses for New Orleans native Al Stall and in fact was the rider for Apart when he was the work company for Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame, Stall’s big horse. Now, O’Dwyer has come to New Orleans as a head trainer himself, hoping he’s brought his own big horse.
Her name is Needs Supervision, and she’s an upper-tier contender Saturday at Fair Grounds in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Standing squarely in her way are Liora, trained by another New Orleans native, Wayne Catalano, and Grandaria, who resides in the Fair Grounds barn of trainer Brendan Walsh, like O’Dwyer a native of Ireland.
Seven were entered to run one mile and 70 yards in the Silverbulletday, with Fun Finder, Eres Tu, Cowgirls Like Us, and Mandy Blue completing the field. The Silverbulletday is carded as race 11 (post time, 5:20 p.m. Central), and if the forecast holds, the track will be wet.
Fun Finder and Eres Tu seem unlikely to contend. Mandy Blue was a second-start maiden winner in a grass race, and trainer Brad Cox said a strong main-track work here the morning Silverbulletday entries were taken spurred him to take a shot. Cowgirls Like Us is the group’s most experienced entrant with six starts, including a win last out in the $100,000 Trapeze at Remington Park.
“If there’s some improvement there, it puts her right in the hunt,” said trainer Bret Calhoun.
KEY CONTENDERS
Needs Supervision, by Paynter
Last 3 Beyers: 83-62-63
◗ Her breakout Churchill win came over a wet track, so the conditions shouldn’t bother her. She is, however, trying two turns for the first time.
◗ Races on Lasix for the first time despite winning easily in Kentucky without it. Endured a long ship by van from O’Dwyer’s Laurel Park base to Fair Grounds.
◗ The Laurel maiden race she won has turned out to be extremely productive, yielding four next-out winners. Second-place Her Royal Highness has since won a maiden and an allowance race at Laurel, while fourth-place Fashion Faux Pas won the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
◗ Blistered six furlongs in 1:10.80 in a Jan. 4 work on a Laurel surface that wasn’t even producing generally fast times that morning.
Grandaria, by Curlin
Last 3 Beyers: 67-67-57
◗ Debuted in a grass race, her trainer said, just to get seasoning, as Walsh always believed she was cut out for dirt racing. Easily won a maiden race over a sloppy Churchill surface and appears to handle a wet track.
◗ The Churchill maiden field she beat so far looks abysmal. Nothing has come out of the race and showed spark, and the form going into it was poor for the class level.
◗ Her Beyer Speed Figure was tamped down by slow fractions in front of her, and she can almost certainly run faster.
“She’s really matured mentally and physically,” Walsh said. “She looks like a colt, a lovely big, strong, strong filly.”
Liora, by Candy Ride
Last 3 Beyers: 75-66-65
◗ She is the field’s only graded stakes winner, having captured the Grade 2 Golden Rod by a nose over odds-on Restless Rider at Churchill on Nov. 24.
◗ Catalano originally had intended to skip this race and await the Rachel Alexandra next month but said he “called an audible” when the field was coming up short.
◗ Nine-length maiden win came over competition that has done nothing since to impress, and she got an easy lead in the Golden Rod, another race that was soft for the level.
◗ She raced on or just off the lead in all three routes, but Catalano said, “She’ll be wherever she needs to be.”
