Red-hot Hartman has the value play in Attache

It took the trainer Chris Hartman 90 starters during the 2023-24 Fair Grounds meet to hit eight winners, and Hartman needed 68 runners last season to notch seven victories. This Fair Grounds go-around has diverged sharply. Through Jan. 11, Hartman had gone 7 for 20, and Attache can give the barn another win in Thursday’s featured seventh race.

Attache meets nine rivals in a second-level dirt allowance carded for six furlongs and open to $50,000 claimers. It’s an eclectic and well-matched group, but if his 8-1 morning line holds, Attache feels like the value.

This is not the first time Hartman has scorched Fair Grounds. Before his winter focus turned toward Oaklawn Park, Hartman went 21 for 76 during the 2021-22 meet, winning at a 26 percent clip, and hit even harder the following season, going 29 for 93 for a 31 percent strike rate. A pair of 17-1 winners this meet skyrocketed the stable’s ROI to $5.84, and Hartman also has 5-1 and 6-1 winners.

Marcelino Pedroza rides Attache and has had a meet about as strong as Hartman’s – thanks in great part to Hartman. Pedroza has been aboard all seven of Hartman’s winners and entered this race week with 27 victories, just three behind leading rider Jose Ortiz. Pedroza is headed, with luck, toward his best Fair Grounds season.

:: Big Action in the Big Easy at Fair Grounds! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now.

Attache runs for the $50,000 claiming option despite remaining second-level allowance eligible. He has made his last four starts on turf, which will throw some bettors off the scent, as the gelding almost certainly hits a higher level on dirt.

While Attache tailed off badly the last two starts of his form cycle and races for the first time since Nov. 25, that’s a strong positive. The last four times Attache ran fresh, he turned in peak performances. He’s a horse who tends to lose form through the course of a cycle, rather than gain it. He breaks from the rail and has won both his previous starts from post 1.

Having an even stronger meet than Hartman is Brad Cox, who’s 12 for 29 after winning with all five of his starters last racing week, including two victories Jan. 9 in second-level allowance races. One of those came with Shining Star, a Chilean import by Saraha Spirit who campaigns for Sumaya US Stable, characteristics that also apply to Gaza Heroico, who is in Thursday’s race.

Shining Star came into her race after an impressive win at Horseshoe Indianapolis, while Gaza Heroico finished an even fifth there in his North American debut. That start did come in a route race, and it’s possible Gaza Heroico proves much better sprinting.

Autodrive, one of two in the race along with Honkytonk Highway for trainer Bret Calhoun, has started his career with two blowout wins. After routing Remington Park maidens on Oct. 18, Autodrive scored by nearly five lengths in a first-level Fair Grounds allowance. While Autodrive beat just three rivals in a race carded for turf but rained onto dirt, he did so with jockey Jose Ortiz never moving a muscle through the homestretch. Ortiz, however, winds up on Save the Trees, second at this class level and distance last month when ridden by Paco Lopez.

The morning line sets Banned for Life, unraced since May, as the 3-1 favorite under Lopez, and Banned for Life’s trainer, Al Stall Jr., also already has racked up seven Fair Grounds winners.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.