Sharp Azteca gets stamina test in Prelude Stakes

Sharp Azteca will get a distance test Saturday when he makes his two-turn debut in the $100,000 Prelude Stakes at Louisiana Downs. The 1 1/16-mile race is the local steppingstone to next month’s Grade 3, $400,000 Super Derby, and the back-to-back stakes opportunities for 3-year-olds have brought Sharp Azteca to town from his base at Monmouth Park.

“This for sure is a prep for the Super Derby,” trainer Jorge Navarro said of plans to stick around with Sharp Azteca.

The Prelude, which offers its winner a fees-paid berth in the Super Derby on Sept. 10, drew 14. The race is part of a card of seven stakes worth a total of $450,000. Others making up the Prelude field include four-time stakes winner Texas Chrome and the undefeated Curlin colt Secret Passage.

Prelude (Race 6)

KEY CONTENDERS

Sharp Azteca, by Freud
Last 3 Beyers: 90-95-85

◗ He is making the move to two turns off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at seven furlongs in his last start June 11 at Belmont Park.

“There’s no doubt about going long,” said Navarro, who trains Sharp Azteca for Ivan Rodriguez. “I think that’s what he wants [by] how he trains.”

◗ Sharp Azteca’s sire, Freud, was a winner at a mile, while his sire’s dam, Mariah’s Storm, was a multiple graded stakes winner at two turns. Sharp Azteca’s dam, So Sharp, has produced a main-track route winner in Super Sharp.

◗ Navarro said Sharp Azteca arrived Monday and handled the ship well. He said his main concern was the heat in the region. Navarro said he has been pleased with how the horse has prepped for the Prelude.

“He’s going into the race the best I’ve seen him,” he said. “I’m thinking he’s training better than when I had him in Kentucky.”

◗ Sharp Azteca won the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile in Kentucky in May, darting to a 2 1/2-length win in the one-turn-mile race at Churchill Downs. Navarro said the original plan was to then shoot for the Pegasus Stakes and the Haskell Invitational, but the path shifted, and he targeted the Woody Stephens.

“After that race, we gave him time off,” Navarro said.

◗ Edgard Zayas has the mount from post 2.

Texas Chrome, by Grasshopper
Last 3 Beyers: 89-89-85

◗ He has placed in Grade 3 stakes in his last two starts, finishing third to Gun Runner in the Matt Winn Stakes in June at Churchill, then second to eventual Haskell runner-up American Freedom in the Iowa Derby.

◗ C.J. McMahon has the mount for Keene Thoroughbreds and trainer J.R. Caldwell.