Prime Engine taking a shot in Super Derby

Prime Engine was settled in at Louisiana Downs on Monday in advance of an intended start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Super Derby on Saturday. He will be one of the favorites in the 1 1/8-mile race, which has a working list of about eight or nine possible starters, according to David Heitzmann, racing secretary at Louisiana Downs.

Entries for the Super Derby, the meet’s richest race, and the six undercard stakes will be taken Wednesday. Potential Super Derby starters include Allied Air Raid, Chocopologie, Firespike, Four Leaf Chief, Fusaichi Flame, Mobile Bay and The Pickett Factor. The Super Derby card will have a first post of 12 p.m. Central on Saturday. The race is scheduled to be telecast locally on KSLA-12.

Prime Engine, who is based in Washington, was a six-length winner of the Emerald Downs Derby in his most recent start Aug. 9. He arrived at Louisiana Downs on Sunday after flying to Memphis, Tenn., then vanning to Bossier City, La.

“He got in kind of late, so he just tack-walked around the shedrow,” trainer Mike Puhich said Monday. “He’ll track tomorrow.”

Puhich said Prime Engine would gallop up to the Super Derby after having his main work for the race Sept. 3 at Emerald. The horse breezed seven furlongs in 1:23.80.

“That was really nice,” Puhich said. “We were real pleased with the work. He did it so easy.”

Prime Engine worked by himself, and Puhich said Joe Steiner, who was aboard for the move, has the Super Derby mount. Puhich said there were a couple of reasons the race became a target for Prime Engine, whose other stakes win came last year in the Gottstein Futurity at Emerald.

“He was hitting on all cylinders just prior to the Emerald Derby and ran such a good race we started looking for a spot to maybe take a flyer,” Puhich said Saturday. “I’ve been down there, and I think he’ll like the surface. I spent one meeting at Lone Star Park, and we shipped [to Louisiana Downs] and ran a couple of horses.”

Prime Engine is a son of Northern Afleet, and he races for Mark DeDomenico LLC.

◗ Bashaar, who ran sixth in the Super Derby in 2013, will start as a top contender in Wednesday’s featured fourth race, an optional $17,500 claiming race over a mile and 70 yards. Alfredo Contreras has the mount for Indian Creek Thoroughbred Farms and trainer Kelly Myers.