Sitdham breaks quickly from the gate

Mike Stidham is leading trainer at Fair Grounds after three racing weeks, and it’s not just that 10 of his 25 starters have won, but that 20 of them have finished third or better. Pretty much every horse Stidham has saddled at the meeting has at least run to expected form, if not beyond it. Horsplayers savvy enough to jump on the bandwagon from the start have been richly rewarded: Stidham’s $2 win return on investment stands at $3.07 entering this week’s racing.

The stable’s performance has Stidham thinking back to the 1999-2000 meet at Fair Grounds, when he won 39 races – a personal best in New Orleans – and challenged for leading trainer with a string of moderate size.

“That was the meet of a lifetime,” Stidham said. “I had 30 horses, and horses I didn’t think had a chance were running out of the screen. Tom Amoss of course had his regular battalion down here, but up until the last week I was in it with a chance to win the title. This meet, so far it feels like that meet. I have no explanation. Everything is falling into place, the right races, the horses in the right position. It’s one of those things you keep your fingers crossed and hope it continues.”

Among Stidham’s winners last week was Noble Thought, a fourth-time-starting 2-year-old colt who was making his first start for Stidham, first on dirt, and first around two turns when he won a maiden special weight dirtroute by more than two lengths despite breaking from post 11. Noble Thought, by Harlan’s Holiday, earned a modest 71 Beyer Speed Figure.

“The timing of the Lecomte Stakes would be perfect for him,” Stidham said of the Jan. 16 race here. “We’ll nominate for that and take a look.”