Silverbulletday a more competitive race than at first glance

NEW ORLEANS – If the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes for 3-year-old fillies is a one-horse race, that horse is Finite.

If it’s a two-horse race, the second horse could be Portrait.

But the more you look at the Silverbulletday, a mile and 70-yard dirt race that leads to the Fair Grounds Oaks here in March, and the Kentucky Oaks in May, the more you wonder if several other horses have a decent chance.

Tempers Rising, Pass the Plate, and She Can’t Sing all have flashed enough ability to be taken seriously as longer-priced hopes in the Silverbulletday, which is part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks and offers 17 qualifying points toward that race distributed 10-4-2-1. Fair Grounds has been a hotbed for Kentucky Oaks winners – five of the last eight Oaks winners, including Serengeti Empress in 2019 and Monomoy Girl in 2018, were based here.

There are higher-rated fillies waiting in the Fair Grounds wings right now – British Idiom and Taraz for trainer Brad Cox, who starts Portrait, and Wicked Whisper for trainer Steve Asmussen, who sends out Finite. Finite is the 6-5 morning-line favorite based on her strong 2-year-old résumé. Finite started her career with a pair of Saratoga second-place finishes before clearing the maiden ranks third out in a Kentucky Downs turf sprint. She went on to romp in the one-turn mile Rags to Riches over the Churchill Downs dirt track, and, making her route debut over a sloppy Churchill surface, she turned back a bid from Motu and captured the Grade 2 Golden Rod by three-quarters of a length.

Finite doesn’t turn heads during morning work, Asmussen said, and saves her best for the afternoon. She’s been kept on a steady breeze pattern here since mid-December, is training well, according to Asmussen, and there’s no reason to think she won’t run competitively.

Portrait evinced star potential scoring a second-start seven-furlong Ellis Park maiden blowout and earning an 82 Beyer Speed Figure last summer, but regressed in the two-turn Pocahontas Stakes on Sept. 15 at Churchill, finishing fourth as the favorite. Portrait didn’t work again for two months, but Cox said nothing was amiss with the filly, and his confidence is high she’ll stay two turns.

“She trains like a good horse,” Cox said.

Pass the Plate already has shown herself to be a good horse – on turf. Her grass wins in a Keeneland maiden race and a Churchill allowance were exceptional, but her performance level on dirt is a mystery. Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, who has the mount Saturday, gave trainer Paul McGee a favorable report after a recent Fair Grounds dirt work. McGee said “this is the right time to try her” in a dirt race but fears Pass the Plate could fall too far off the lead.

Tempers Rising is better than the standard horse that takes five starts to win a maiden race, and he had a terrible trip two back at Churchill when She Can’t Sing beat her by more than seven lengths in a two-turn maiden race. She Can’t Sing followed that with an even fourth in the Golden Rod, and trainer Chris Block hopes it merely was a sloppy track that interrupted her development. Wet conditions are possible again Saturday, and His Glory, trainer Tom Amoss said, will be scratched if the track comes up very wet.

Weather key in route stakes

Fair Grounds horsemen have taken cross-entering to new heights (or depths) here Saturday.

Six horses are entered in the $125,000 Colonel E.R. Bradley, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, and also are entered in the Grade 3, $125,000 Louisiana Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race. All the cross-entrants except for Captivating Moon are nearly certain to opt for the Louisiana if the Bradley stays on turf. What will be interesting is how the entries shake out should rain force the Bradley to be moved to dirt.

There’s a relatively clear favorite in both races – Silver Dust in the Louisiana and, provided the race stays on turf, Mr. Misunderstood in the Bradley.

Silver Dust, following diligent work from the barn of trainer Bret Calhoun, wound up having a strong 2019 campaign. He won the Mineshaft here last February, was fourth in the New Orleans Handicap, won the West Virginia Governor’s Cup, and finished second to conclude his season in the Lukas Classic on Sept. 28. Calhoun said Silver Dust’s performance in the Lukas Classic surprised him since the gelding was battling some nagging issues at the time.

“He’s much better right now than he was then,” Calhoun said.

Kukulkan ran competitively against Silver Dust three times last year but never could beat him, and is drawn wide Saturday. Blended Citizen missed by only a head last month in the Tenacious Stakes here and can improve, while Captivating Moon moves up on a wet track.

Mr. Misunderstood, meanwhile, drew post 14 for the Bradley, but if he runs it means the race is on turf, which also means at least five scratches will allow him to move into a manageable post. Mr. Misunderstood moved too early when run down by Bradley entrant Space Mountain last September and won the River City Stakes at Churchill to conclude his 2019 season. He’s a half-cut above the rest of the Bradley field save, perhaps, Captivating Moon.

Bobby’s Wicked One stands out

If Bobby’s Wicked One is doing as well on Saturday as he was when he dominated the Thanksgiving Classic, he’ll win the $100,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes, and trainer Al Stall believes he is. Bobby’s Wicked One will have, at most, four rivals in the six-furlong Kenner, which was carded as race 2 owing to the short field and could go with just four runners.

Bobby’s Wicked One isn’t at the level of recently retired Mitole, but at his best he’s only one level or so below that, and he has a major pace advantage Saturday on late-running Hog Creek Hustle. Pete’s Play Call, with the right trip, might edge Hog Creek Hustle for second and slightly boost the exacta payoff.

◗ The temporary turf rail is coming down Friday night and the fresh grass on the inside of the course should prove the right place to be. Quebec is drawn on the rail for the $100,000 Marie Krantz Memorial, a 1 1/16-mile grass race, and doesn’t have to move at all to stay on the best part of the course. Notapradaprice and La Signare also rate a solid chance.