Is Redesdale rusty or ready to fire off long layoff?

NEW ORLEANS – The seventh race Friday at Fair Grounds will help trainer Brendan Walsh assess the current state of the once-started and still-promising 4-year-old Redesdale, who races for the first time since May 26.

“He doesn’t have to win,” said Walsh, who co-owns Redesdale with Chad Shumer. “We’re just excited to get him back racing again.”

Handicappers, however, face a pressing choice: Take a short price on Redesdale, whose debut win stamps him as the most likely winner of this first-level dirt-sprint allowance race, or try to beat an obviously talented colt who might be rusty from a long break and could have been compromised by injury.

Interested parties will be pleased to note that Walsh believes his horse is in great shape.

“He’s doing super. We had to stop on him in the spring. It was no major issue but just something we had to stop on him for, or it might have turned into something major,” said Walsh, who often rides his horses during morning exercise. “He’s come back as good, if not better, than before. I worked him out of the gate myself the other day.”

Redesdale is by Speightstown and out of Harpia, who has so far not transferred a lot of her brilliance on the track to her offspring. He was bred by Juddmonte Farms but was purchased privately and turned over to Walsh to start his career. In May, Redesdale pressed a hot sprint pace, took over in deep stretch, and won by a length in a good raw time that produced an 86 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I thought he was going to need that race,” Walsh said. “I wasn’t surprised he won, but I wasn’t really expecting it. I think he’s a horse that might turn into a miler.”

Redesdale is drawn inside a serious pace player, Wainscott, who looks set for a peak race in his third start after a layoff for trainer Larry Jones. An intemperate tempo could lead to a favorable trip for Scarf It Down, who earlier in the meet beat last Sunday’s impressive maiden winner Tour de Force.

Race 7 is one of two open allowance races on Friday’s eight-race card, which has race 6, a second-level allowance also open to $40,000 claimers and carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, as the day’s feature.

With heavy rain forecast Thursday, this race could be rained onto the dirt, but on either surface, Grand Candy looks formidable. He finished a close fourth last out in a strong edition of the Bonapaw Stakes, a turf sprint, and in his most recent dirt race, in November at Churchill Downs, Grand Candy won easily for a $100,000 claiming price.