Ova Charged holds on in Happy Ticket on Fair Grounds's opening-day card

Ova Charged returned from an eight-month layoff the same way she went into it – a much better horse than other Louisiana-bred female sprinters.

Despite tiring in the final furlong, Ova Charged won the $75,000 Happy Ticket Stakes by two lengths on opening day of the 2022-23 Fair Grounds meet, running her career record to 6-1-0 from seven starts, her lone loss coming in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes two summers ago at Belmont Park. A popular winner, Ova Charged paid $2.60 to win. Jose Camejo trains the winner for Evelyn Benoit’s Brittlyn Stable and also sent out the second-place finishers, Spirited Beauty.

The Happy Ticket was the last of three Louisiana-bred stakes on the first card of the Fair Grounds season. Free Drop Maddy ($4.80) won the $75,000 Donovan Ferguson for 2-year-old fillies, and A G’s Charlotte ($21.80) capitalized on a hot pace to upset the $75,000 Big World Stakes.

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In the Big World, Cheapskate Diva flew out to an open-lengths early lead, passing the half-mile pole in 46.98 seconds, a taxing pace for a two-turn Fair Grounds dirt race. Favored Winning Romance stalked the pace from second, while Fort Polk, typically a closer, was kept surprisingly close to the early leader. Cheapskate Diva threw in the towel at the head of the homestretch, and Winning Romance moved to take the lead. Fort Polk tipped off the fence to try and mount a three-wide rally. Instead, it was A G’s Charlotte, last of seven in the early stages, who came over the top under Marcelino Pedroza Jr. to get up by a neck over Winning Romance, Fort Polk holding a close third.

Three-year-old A G’s Charlotte, trained by Patricia West for her breeder, Thomas Galvin, won her first stakes race. By Mo Tom out of the Indygo Shiner mare Adrianne G, A G’s Charlotte ran one mile and 70 yards in 1:43.56.

While A G’s Charlotte came as something of a surprise, Free Drop Maddy was solidly favored in the Donovan Ferguson. Cced for Steph, who took plenty of betting as the 2-1 second choice, set the early pace but was done just past the half-mile pole as Free Drop Maddy took command. Making the lead midway around the far turn, Free Drop Maddy took a four-length lead to the stretch call and was gathered up by jockey Reylu Gutierrez to win by 6 3/4 lengths. Addi Bug, a 30-1 shot, finished second, and Don’tcallmepatsy was third. Free Drop Maddy ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.29. Bret Calhoun trains the filly, a daughter of Solo Buena out of Half Ours, for Mansfield Racing.

Ova Charged, a homebred by Star Guitar out of Charged Cotton, by Dehere, is a graded stakes-class filly, Louisiana-bred or not. Pressing the pace under Jose Rodriguez, Ova Charged stormed to the front before the quarter pole and won comfortably, a good comeback win and a solid prep race for Louisiana Champions Day next month.

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