Silver Dust favored in Mineshaft, but look out for Pirate's Punch

NEW ORLEANS – At 6, Silver Dust’s hair has turned from gray to white. With age has come wisdom, relative calm.

As a young colt, Silver Dust acted like a sociopathic sailor rolling through the Port of New Orleans on shore leave, hell-bent on acting out.

Bret Calhoun took over Silver Dust’s training late in 2017 and probably didn’t get much joy out of it. Fifteen races into his career, Silver Dust remained eligible for a first-level allowance. All the work just getting Silver Dust not to implode – was the juice worth the squeeze?

Why yes, yes it was. Last winter at Fair Grounds, Silver Dust, now gelded, won an allowance race, finished second in the Louisiana Stakes, then won the Grade 3 Mineshaft as a 6-1 shot. He’s back Saturday in the $200,000 Mineshaft, 5-2 morning-line favorite after holding strong form for a year, including the Jan. 18 Louisiana, which he won in a romp. Silver Dust made Calhoun nervous before that start, so professional was his behavior, but no worry, the gelding appears to have tamed his demons.

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Silver Dust, though, does lose his regular rider, Jack Gilligan, hurt in a spill last month, and while capable Brian Hernandez Jr. lands the mount, the Mineshaft, contested over 1 1/16 miles, is a meaningfully tougher race than the Louisiana.

There are several plausible contenders who didn’t contest the Louisiana. Mocito Rojo beat Silver Dust in the Lukas Classic last fall and can win at a price with a return to that level, though he appears to be past his best form. Four-year-old Sleepy Eyes Todd ran a fast race winning a six-figure Remington stakes before flopping last out in a turf marathon and has potential to improve. Five-year-old Hofburg had a lost 2019 campaign, racing only once, but rated among the better 3-year-olds of 2018. Cutting Humor won the Sunland Derby as a 3-year-old and has long been aimed by trainer Todd Pletcher toward this race, his second start after a long layoff.

Blended Citizen, second in the Louisiana, will be scratched.

The pick to post a mild upset is 4-year-old Pirate’s Punch, who showed flashes during the second half of 2019 after being transferred to trainer Grant Forster, who began racing him without blinkers. Following a two-month break, Pirate’s Punch won a second-level allowance race Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds by 11 1/2 lengths after setting a strong pace. He got a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, tops in this field, and has given Forster all the right signs since that start.

“We’re throwing a lot at him – post 11 Saturday and horses with other speed,” Forster said. “He’s a horse that runs turns brilliantly. We like to take advantage of that.”

Pirate’s Punch figures to hit the quarter pole on the lead. The aging gray gelding should have a say in what happens from there.