Next-race plans for Mobile Bay undetermined

BOSSIER CITY, La .- The road Mobile Bay will go down following his career-best win Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Super Derby is to be determined, but he did emerge from the race in good order, trainer Victor Arceneaux said on Sunday.

The Super Derby was the highlight of a card of seven stakes at Louisiana Downs. Mobile Bay picked up his first graded win in the race, and for his 2 1/4-length victory earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 93.

Mobile Bay is based at Evangeline Training Center near Lafayette, La., and he was back home around 11 p.m. Central on Saturday, said Arceneaux. Mobile Bay will have an easy week going forward.

“He’s going to have a couple of days off, probably three, maybe four,” said Arceneaux.

Arceneaux on Sunday did not want to speculate on the direction Mobile Bay might take following his win in the Super Derby.

“We’re going to see how he comes out of the race,” he said. “So far it looks good. We’ll see how he trains when he goes back to the track and make a decision.”

The Super Derby was the third career stakes win for Mobile Bay behind the $70,000 Lafayette and $100,000 Louisiana Legends, both for Louisiana-breds this summer at Evangeline Downs. He advanced to the local prep for the Super Derby, the $100,000 Prelude on Aug. 8, and his late-running third after hitting traffic in the 1 1/16-mile race was one of the reasons his connections targeted the 1 1/8- mile Super Derby.

“He came running real strong that day,” said Arceneaux, who trains the horse for Irwin Olian. “The way he finished down the lane, we decided to go to the Super Derby.”

Mobile Bay broke last in the Super Derby, went wide in the first turn, and then advanced four wide around the final turn before running down the leaders in 1:50.13. Edgar Prado was aboard for his first win in the Super Derby. Prado has also won the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and joked Saturday that he might have to buy a house in Louisiana.

Chocopologie ran second in the Super Derby in his stakes debut, returning to the Louisiana Downs site where he won his maiden by 17 3/4 lengths last August. Trainer Patrick Devereux Jr. was pleased with the horse’s performance Saturday.

“He doesn’t have a lot of seasoning and I thought he ran really well, and professionally,” he said Sunday. “I see him continuing to improve.”

Chocopologie returned to the Evangeline Training Center on Saturday night, said Devereux. He said plans for the horse are to be determined. Devereux completed a unique trainer’s exacta in the Super Derby as Arceneaux is his son’s godfather.

Allied Air Raid finished third as the favorite in the Super Derby and on Sunday was shipping back to Churchill Downs, said his trainer, Brad Cox.

“The mile and an eighth might be further than he wants to go,” Cox said. “We may look at trying him on the grass just the way the Midshipmans are running on the grass. We’ll shorten him up, look at seven-eighths at Belmont or a mile on the turf somewhere. We’ve got options. “

Allied Air Raid has placed in four stakes in his last four starts, including a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Iowa Derby.

Handle on the 13-race Super Derby Day card from all sources was $2.7 million, according to Louisiana Downs director of operations Trent McIntosh. Of that amount, $441,937 was bet on the card ontrack and $2,211,121 offtrack Saturday. The card was the biggest of the meet at Louisiana Downs.