No vacation for Mauk Four

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Mauk Four continues his remarkably prolific 2005 campaign here Saturday when he heads the field for the $50,000 Alliance Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile turf headliner drew a field of eight and will be run as the 11th race on a 12-race program on the first Saturday of the new season.

has made seven starts this year, all at either Oaklawn or Delta Downs. Following his wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 3 Fifth Season at Oaklawn Park earlier this month, his connections indicated the 5-year-old Mauk Four was due for some freshening. Mauk Four, who races for the R & W Srygley Partnership, was given a tentative return date of Aug. 13, when he was to run in the Evangeline Mile.

So much for the vacation.

Trainer Jerry Cart has said repeatedly that Mauk Four thrives on plenty of activity, and it is hard to argue with the results. Even though the Fifth Season was only his second win of the year, Mauk Four has turned in four tough-luck second-place finishes, including placings in two other Grade 3 events.

Mauk Four's start in the Alliance is complicated by an unknown factor. All six of his wins have come on the main track; he has run on the turf only twice, with neither race producing a check.

Regardless, with three triple-digit Beyer Figures this year, Mauk Four appears to be better than he has ever been. Mauk Four also catches an extremely beneficial pace scenario, as none of his seven rivals appears to possess anything close to his type of early foot. Jeff Burningham, aboard for the Fifth Season, once again has the call.

Run to the Border, a five-time winner on the local turf from only seven starts, rates as a prime contender with E.J. Perrodin in the irons. Trained by Pat Mouton, Run to the Border has changed hands three times this year, each time for a $40,000 claiming price.

The powerful Steve Asmussen stable will send out Seinne in the Alliance off a rally that netted him a third-place finish in an allowance race at Lone Star on April 15. Gerard Melancon rides.

Crowned King, fourth in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, returns to the surface where he earned a six-figure stakes win when he was a 3-year-old. Trained by Billy McKeever, Crowned King will attempt to snap a winless streak that dates back to an allowance win at Oaklawn in February 2004.