No Parole sticking with statebreds in Premier Night Prince at Delta

Flashy 3-year-old Louisiana-bred No Parole will make his next start Feb. 8 in the $100,000 Premier Night Prince, a one-mile statebred-restricted race at Delta Downs, trainer Tom Amoss said Tuesday.

Amoss had said shortly after No Parole’s race on Jan. 11 that the colt probably would face open stakes competition when he returned to action.

“We’ve reconsidered our thinking on that,” Amoss said.

No Parole twice has thumped Louisiana-breds in six-furlong Fair Grounds races to begin his career. On Dec. 15, he won a maiden race by more than 14 lengths, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, and about a month later he buried a stronger group of first-level allowance foes, winning by more than 13 lengths while geared down late by jockey James Graham. No Parole galloped out with good energy in both starts, but Amoss, while high on the horse, still isn’t certain if his talent will translate to route racing.

No Parole is by Violence out of Plus One, by Bluegrass Cat, a pedigree that, on the surface, should lend itself to middle-distance racing. Plus One, however, was a sprinter, and No Parole has shown brilliant speed in his two starts while displaying the physical characteristics of a horse who might max out at distances of one mile or less.

One-mile dirt races over the bullring oval at Delta are run around two turns, but the homestretch there is only about an eighth-mile long. It’s a good stepping-stone between a sprint and a true route, but Amoss wonders if No Parole, as he has in his first two starts, might simply dominate overmatched competition on sheer talent.

“He can win this race and there’s still going to be a question what he can really do,” Amoss said.