Silverbulletday Stakes lacks a clear choice at Fair Grounds

NEW ORLEANS – The Beyer Speed Figures tell the tale of the Silverbulletday Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. There are eight fillies in the race, and six have earned a top Beyer between 73 and 77. Want to talk class handicapping? Two entrants have beaten only maidens, but three of the Silverbulletday octet are entry-level allowance winners. Seans Silverdancer won a stakes, but it was an Illinois-bred futurity. Bouquet Booth won a Grade 3 but beat moderate opposition at Delta Downs. Neither holds a clear advantage.

Handicapping strategy? Write names on paper, throw paper in hat, shake vigorously, reach in, make selection.

“I don’t know whether her turf numbers are going to transfer to dirt,” said Mike Stidham, who trains recent Fair Grounds allowance-race winner Ambient, “but if they do, she fits in the race. It’s wide open.”

Ambient is one of two Stidham-trained fillies in the $100,000 Silverbulletday, a mile and 40-yard dirt race formerly called the Tiffany Lass. Longer shot Wahoo Babe is Stidham’s other entrant, while trainer Steve Margolis also has a pair, Bouquet Booth and Little Miss Holly. Bouquet Booth began her career with two losses at Hoosier Park but won her maiden over Keeneland’s Polytrack before capturing the Delta Downs Princess by a half-length in her two-turn debut.

“Shaun [Bridgmohan] said she was really fighting that racetrack,” Margolis said. “I didn’t think she was going to get anything.”

By Flower Alley and out of a mare by Loup Sauvage, Bouquet Booth is bred to like a longer distance, and the lengthy Fair Grounds stretch might suit her. Bridgmohan chose to ride Bouquet Booth over Little Miss Holly, who beat Wahoo Babe by six lengths in a Dec. 9 maiden route at Fair Grounds.

Aide most recently finished a well-beaten fourth at odds of 8-5 in the Nov. 27 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill, a race in which she was somewhat overeager. She has post 8 for Saturday’s race, a draw that pleases trainer Al Stall.

“I like the outside post for her, if she’s going to try and get rank again,” Stall said.

Seans Silverdancer set a fast pace and drew off to easily win the Illinois Debutante on Dec. 4 at Hawthorne. Her opposition was of questionable quality, but the performance was impressive, considering Seans Silverdancer had made only one previous start.

Daisy Devine won an allowance race over the Fair Grounds main track at 40-1. Chloe Kate started in an allowance race Thursday and will be scratched.