Power Surge gets his track

It was a muddy mess at Fair Grounds Race Course - and that was just fine with Power Surge. Power Surge continued his run of solid wet-track performances with a three-quarters of a length victory over defending champ Mr. Porter in the on Saturday in New Orleans.

Trained by Bret Calhoun for owner Carl Moore, Power Surge rallied from fifth place under Jamie Theriot to win the Jackson. He paid $7.60, and was timed in 1:04.96 for 5 1/2 furlongs over a sloppy, sealed racetrack. Power Surge, a 6-year-old gelding by Holzmeister, has now compiled a record of 2-3-1 from 6 starts over an off track.

The strange thing about the Jackson was the way the early speed fell apart. The first five races on the Fair Grounds card all went to front-runners, and the wet track appeared to harbor a pronounced front-end bias. But after setting splits of 21.82 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and going a half in 45.92, pace-setting Lee City Slew ran out of gas, as did the trio closest to him. Mr. Porter, rallying widest, briefly looked like a winner before the furlong pole, but Theriot and Power Surge stayed on gamely to prevail. Lee City Slew finished third, beaten almost 10 lengths by Mr. Porter.

Happy Ticket : $120 winner

Chaos prevailed in the later on the card. Anything But Quiet, rallying up the rail under Billy Patin, was home by a neck, paying $120 to win. Behind her came 10-1 Yare and 32-1 Alphadoodle, producing a $2 trifecta payoff of $7,968.20 despite a short seven-horse field.

Anything But Quiet, trained by C.J. Woodley, had won only twice since 2007, and was 0 for 2 in wet-track tries. She was timed in modest 1:06.40 for 5 1/2 furlongs. Odds-on Sax Appeal never contended and wound up fourth.