Richard Scherer Memorial a puzzle on turf or dirt

The featured $75,000 Richard Scherer Memorial Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds is carded for fillies and mares at about 5 ½ furlongs on turf – emphasis on “carded.”

The meteorologists are all but certain there will be considerable rain Friday night into Saturday morning in New Orleans, and if the forecast holds the Scherer stands a good chance of winding up at 5 ½ furlongs on the main track.

Either way, the race looks less than straightforward.

Sixteen were entered with 14 in the main body and Nineteenth Street and Student Body on the also-eligible list. Don’t discount either one of those horses.

Nineteenth Street was claimed for $62,500 on Nov. 19 at Churchill by owners Wayne Sanders and Highlander Racing and trainer Joe Sharp. Sharp mentioned the filly a couple weeks ago in terms of running through the Fair Grounds female turf-sprint stakes series, and she does have upside on grass, but Nineteenth Street also is an established dirt runner – she won over a sloppy Fair Grounds main track a year ago – who will draw into this field if the race is rained off grass and can contend despite a wide draw. Sharp has two others in the field’s main body: She’s All Skeet fits the spot snugly enough while Unbridled Courage will be a price.

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Student Body, trained by Chris Davis for Gary Broad, mixes brilliant front-running performances with true duds, but she is clearly capable of winning this race on dirt with anything close to her best. She did run poorly in her lone start on a wet track, but that start came in the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga.

Student Body at least is drawn outside, but there are plenty of other serious pace factors entered, including Brielle’s Appeal, a filly with form characteristics like Student Body’s. Brielle’s Appeal at her best was a neck away from winning the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint in September, but followed up on that with a 12th-place finish five weeks later at Keeneland. The English Channel filly never has raced on dirt, but trainer Al Stall said she might well take her chance on the main track since the Scherer probably is her career finale.

Excessive Spending hasn’t raced on dirt in 20 months, but trainer Chris Hartman said Thursday she’d also likely stay in the race should it be rained off grass. Though her draw in post 14 is a drawback, Excessive Spending rates a good chance, particularly on turf. She won an open allowance race last out at Churchill after a troubled and creditable sixth-place finish in a Keeneland Stakes. Ty Kennedy has the mount on the filly, who needs to be coaxed into relaxing.

“She’s a little tricky to ride,” said Hartman. “It doesn’t matter if she’s on the lead or off the pace, but how the rider gets to that point.”

Also, it doesn’t matter whether the Scherer is run on turf or dirt – the race is tough to figure.

Hawthorne: Weak Whitworth

The $50,000 Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante on Saturday at Hawthorne is Exhibit A in the decline of the Illinois breeding program. The 1 1/16-mile race for Illinois-bred 2-year-old fillies drew just six entrants and probably is the weakest renewal in race history.

Two of the entrants, Brilliant One and Be Authentic, are Wayne Catalano-trained first-time starters. A third, Ronan, is a four-race maiden who has lost her two dirt starts by about 38 combined lengths. Get None looked good winning her debut, but that was a Polytrack sprint more than five months ago at Arlington.

That leaves Irish Marvel and Booda Lou, both of whom won their only start, which came in Hawthorne dirt-sprint maiden races. Irish Marvel fought for the lead and held on to win her race by a neck, while Booda Lou rated off the pace and drew away to win by nine. Booda Lou stands an excellent chance of giving trainer Robert Pompell a winner with his first stakes-race starter.