Redifined should get right setup in Pan Zareta

Not to paint with too broad a brush, but the Fair Grounds grass course for literally decades has carried a general bias toward outside closers. That dynamic did not appear to require redefinition during the first couple days of the 2023-24 racing season and makes the filly Redifined look like a strong candidate to win the $100,000 Pan Zareta Stakes on Saturday.

Three-year-old Redifined was one of 11 older fillies and mares entered to race about 5 1/2 furlongs on grass Saturday at Fair Grounds, where the temporary turf rail is scheduled to be placed eight feet out, as was the case during the two-day opening week. Six turf races were run during those cards, and while front-runners managed to win two of them, closers filled out nearly all the top three placings in the other four.

Redifined has tactical speed and figures to be placed midpack under Fair Grounds newcomer Jamie Torres, while Carimba and Charlie T fight it out on the front end. Priced too high on the morning line at 8-1, Redifined exits a strong high-end allowance race win turf-sprinting Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. While she beat just four foes, Redifined cruised to the lead in upper stretch and was home by more than three lengths while merely under a hand ride.

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Earlier performances suggest Redifined can repeat the showing. Stakes-placed in turf sprints three times last year at age 2, Redinifed nearly won the Grade 3 Matron at Aqueduct last November, and in June, she captured a key first-level Belmont turf-sprint allowance race with an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. Horseshoe Racing acquired Redifined early this summer and turned the filly over to trainer Michelle Lovell. Redifined debuted for new connections in August at Saratoga in the Galway Stakes, finishing fifth of 10 after suffering from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, according to the official chart. Off Lasix in the Galway, Redifined was back on it at Churchill and is permitted to be administered the anti-bleeder medication again Saturday.

Train to Artemus and Goin’ Good have run faster than Redifined, but both are 5-year-olds lacking their younger rival’s upside.

Train to Artemus was purchased for $250,000 at Keeneland earlier this month and is set to make her first start for trainer John Ennis, though Ennis told Fair Grounds publicity that Train to Artemus could instead run next weekend at Turfway Park. Regardless, the mare already has put together a highly successful but demanding 2023 campaign, winning four times in 11 starts this year.

Goin’ Good “runs up to horses and doesn’t want to go past,” her trainer, Brad Cox, correctly pointed out. Goin’ Good, twice stakes-placed on the Fair Grounds lawn, has won just once in her last 14 starts. James Graham rides the mare for the first time and perhaps can trick her into hitting the line first.

Carimba, a 5-year-old with only nine starts, earned a 101 Beyer in a September allowance-race romp on the Churchill turf. That’s an outlier figure, and rail-drawn Charlie T has the speed to keep Carimba from a clear early lead.

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