Shudacudawudya returning from 2 1/2-year layoff

Saturday’s $50,000 Albany Stakes marks the return of the 8-year-old Shudacudawudya from a 2 1/2-year layoff and the continuation of Slycy’s Cinderella story.

Golden Gate Fields concludes its long winter-spring meeting Sunday, and the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton kicks off the Northern California summer-fair season next Thursday.

The Albany will be run at five furlongs on turf. Shudacudawudya won the Albany in 2012 when it was run at six furlongs on the main track. That summer, he also won the Jess Jackson at five furlongs on turf at Santa Rosa.

A series of minor mishaps has kept him off the track since he ran fourth in the Oakland Stakes on Dec. 15, 2012, said trainer Lloyd Mason. It’s certainly unconventional to bring an 8-year-old back to race after 2 1/2 years on the sidelines, but Mason said the Marino Marini gelding loves racing and thrives at the track.

Shudacudawudya was on the sidelines nearly one year before he began working again Dec. 4, 2013. He worked six times before being forced to the sidelines again. He tried another comeback starting on Halloween in 2014 and put in nine works before stopping again after a Dec. 31 work.

But he hasn’t missed a beat since returning to the track March 1, working 14 times.

“He’s ready to go,” said Mason, who trains Shudacudawudya for his son Brett.

As for Slycy, should he pull an upset in the Albany, it would be the story of the meet.

A low- to midlevel claimer, the 8-year-old gelding has found a new life on turf. He has won 4 of 5 starts this year, including starter-allowance turf sprints in his last three. Slycy has won 10 of 35 starts while earning $157,923. Since being claimed by Matthew Troy for $4,000 on Feb. 15, 2014, he’s 6 for 11.

Slycy’s turf success is a surprise considering his breeding. His sire, Crafty C.T., won the Grade 2 San Rafael and had three seconds and a pair of thirds in Grade 1 races but never ran on turf. As a sire, Crafty C.T. had not had a single winner from his 17 offspring who had tried turf before Slycy.

Slycy is the only foal of the unraced mare Lucy’s Wild Again. She is a half-sister of Charlie Papa, who did win two five-furlong turf stakes in Florida.

“I think he deserves a shot,” said Troy, who also owns Slycy. “He’s 3 for 3 over the course at this distance.”