Regally Ready has clear edge in featured optional claimer

NEW ORLEANS – Regally Ready, who hasn’t raced since finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile last fall, returns to competition Sunday for trainer Steve Asmussen in an optional-claiming race at Fair Grounds.

The $44,000 race for 4-year-olds and up at about a mile on turf attracted seven horses, as well as also-eligibles Rise Up and Sandbar, both entered for the main track only.

The 8-year-old gelding Regally Ready holds a clear class edge over his opposition. He has won 16 of 38 career starts, including nine stakes, four of them graded, and he has earned $1,659,506.

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Key contenders

Regally Ready (Last 3 Beyers: 86-94-95)

* Regally Ready’s most productive year was 2011, when he won 6 of 9 starts, including five stakes – the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, the Grade 1 Nearctic, the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint, the Grade 3 San Simeon, and the Joe Hernandez. He earned $1.07 million that year.

* With age, Regally Ready has become a consistent money-maker in races from a mile to 1 1/16 miles. Last year, he won four stakes races, the most lucrative being the $200,000 More Than Ready Mile at Kentucky Downs. He won two stakes on dirt last year, so if this race comes off the grass due to rain, Regally Ready is expected to run.

* It appears Asmussen has Regally Ready fit enough for this race. His eight workouts at Fair Grounds this year include six five-furlong breezes.

Adios Nardo (Last 3 Beyers: 89-74-86)

* Trainer Leo Gabriel said he’s confident Adios Nardo, who will be making his third start after a layoff of almost nine months, is rounding into shape. The gelding had a wide trip in his first start of 2105 before finishing third against optional-claiming foes on Feb. 7. Last season at Fair Grounds, Adios Nardo placed in two stakes, including the Grade 3 Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap.

“I’m really looking forward to running him,” Gabriel said. “I’m not really looking forward to running against [Regally Ready].”

Paroled (Last 3 Beyers: 92-97-86)

* Trained by Angel Montano, Paroled made a solid late run to finish second in his last outing, finishing 1 1/2 lengths in front of Adios Nardo. In his first start this season at Fair Grounds, Paroled defeated softer optional-claiming opposition in a race switched from turf to dirt.

Rise Up (Last 3 Beyers: 90-91-87)

* If the surface is switched to dirt, Rise Up, a graded stakes winner trained by Tom Amoss, could be a front-running threat.