Played Hard the one to catch in Seneca Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Phil Bauer took a shot and it didn’t work out. Big deal. One of his emerging stable stars, Played Hard, took a drubbing in her stakes debut this summer at Saratoga, but what a stakes it was.

“I don’t see any Malathaats or Clairieres in this race,” Bauer said after scanning the entries for the $160,000 Seneca, the next race for Played Hard. “It’s a nice cast of fillies, but our horse is doing well and there’s not a lot of other speed in against us.”

In her most recent start Aug. 21, Played Hard was a fading fifth in the Grade 1 Alabama behind divisional leaders Malathaat and Clairiere. Duly regrouped and resettled at Bauer’s main base, Churchill Downs, she is one of seven 3-year-old fillies set to clash Friday in the Seneca, one of several new stakes at a 12-day, dirt-only September meet that ends Sunday. The 1 1/16-mile race is part of a revised stakes schedule necessitated by a turf-course renovation set for completion next spring.

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Played Hard will have Tyler Gaffalione aboard when breaking from post 5. On paper, it looks as if Gaffalione will be able to make a clear lead, given that the Into Mischief filly has been a habitual front-runner since Bauer began running her in two-turn races this summer. Off front-running romps in a June 20 maiden race at Churchill and a July 22 allowance at Saratoga, she set the pace in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama before being swallowed up.

“She will rate – or at least she does in the morning if she has to,” said Bauer, who has 85 career wins since going out on his own in September 2013 following a lengthy tenure as an assistant to Ken McPeek. “If she runs her best, we just might end up in the winner’s circle with our first Churchill stakes win.”

Bauer, who grew up in Louisville, has a total of 10 stakes wins in Florida, New York, and Indiana, but none on his home circuit.

Played Hard is owned by Bauer’s private client, Richard Rigney. She was competitive in three maiden-special sprints – including a particularly wicked beat in the Kentucky Oaks Day finale – prior to stretching out.

Surely the top opponent is a McPeek trainee, Crazy Beautiful (post 6, Brian Hernandez Jr.). She finished behind Played Hard when a no-factor sixth in the Alabama but is easily the most accomplished filly in this race. From 11 starts, the gray daughter of Liam’s Map has amassed five wins, four of them in stakes, including the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita, and the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks.

Under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Crazy Beautiful owns a résumé that could make her a decisive favorite here, assuming bettors decide her substantial class edge can overcome any liability as a stretch-runner. She has breezed three times since the Alabama, including two recent works at Churchill.

“She’ll run her race,” McPeek said.

The others in the Seneca lineup are Illiogami, Moon Swag, Double Dawn, Time for Glory, and Oliviaofthedesert. Of those, maybe Illiogami (post 1, Julien Leparoux) rates the best chance at a mild upset when going turf to dirt out of the Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga.

The Seneca is the ninth of 10 races on a Friday card that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Sunshine and a high of 82 are in the local forecast.