Trainer Joe Sharp came within four wins of the 2017-18 training title at Fair Grounds, and he thinks he has a better stable to attack with this season than last. “It’s gonna come down to racing luck, of course, but as far as horsepower goes, we’re definitely a little heavier this year,” Sharp said late Thursday afternoon. An hour earlier, Sharp had unveiled a high-level Louisiana-bred, Midnight Fantasy, who debuted with a 9 1/2-length Louisiana-bred dirt-sprint maiden win that produced a 77 Beyer Speed Figure. Midnight Fantasy, a robust daughter of Midnight Lute owned by Carl Moore Management, did everything right in her race – until the sixteenth pole. Breaking sharply from post 1 under Adam Beschizza, Midnight Fantasy put away pace rival Lagniappe in upper stretch and was already a winner when she ducked out badly at the sixteenth pole. “When Adam went left-handed, that’s what started it, and then she was looking at those signs under the wire. That’s stuff that usually doesn’t happen twice. She’ll have more company on Champions Day, you’d think,” Sharp said. Maybe, but off that strong performance, Midnight Fantasy figures favored next month in the Champions Day Lassie. Sharp has 70 horses spread between Fair Grounds and the Folsom Training Center across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. Among his stock, he said, are 10 2-year-olds for a new client, prominent owners Gary and Mary West. Brad Grady, a longtime client, also has a number of promising young horses. Sharp said he also plans to have a 20-horse string this winter at Oaklawn Park, where he hasn’t run a stable since 2015. Synchrony ready for turf season Synchrony won the two most important Fair Grounds turf races of 2018, the Fair Grounds Handicap and the Mervin Muniz, and he will attempt to win them again in 2019. Synchrony is back at Fair Grounds for trainer Mike Stidham and owner-breeder Pin Oak Stable and has posted two recent workouts there. Stidham said the connections toyed with a dirt experiment in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs later this month, but Synchrony now is more likely to ship to California and have his final 2018 start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap on Nov. 24 at Del Mar. Synchrony added wins in the Oceanport and the Red Bank at Monmouth this summer to his résumé and, though he is a horse, not a gelding, Synchrony is scheduled to race on next year at age 6, Stidham said.