Slew by Slew back on best surface in Lang Memorial

Slew by Slew, whose biggest career win came on turf, is set to return to the grass in the $45,000 Chick Lang Jr. Memorial. The 7 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds also drew stakes winners Takedown, who is making his turf debut, and I Spy Wolfie.

Slew by Slew won a stakes on turf last November, closing fast in the $50,000 Centennial at a mile at Remington Park. Also a winner on dirt, he comes into the Lang off a sixth-place finish in the $100,000 Prelude at Louisiana Downs on Aug.o18. He finished five lengths behind winner Forty Acres.

"He had a little mucus when he came back after the race, so we might not have seen his best race," said Donnie Von Hemel, who trains Slew by Slew for the Richter Family Trust.

Slew by Slew has turned in some nice works since the Prelude, his latest a five-furlong move in a bullet 1:01.40 at Lone Star Park on Sept. 8. He will be ridden by Larry Taylor.

Takedown, the winner of the $100,000 Northern Spur at Oaklawn and the $100,000 Borderland Derby at Sunland, comes into the Lang off a second-place finish in the $100,000 Alysheba Breeders' Cup at Lone Star on June 30.

His trainer, Steve Asmussen, has long mentioned turf as a surface over which he would like to try Takedown. The horse's sire, Point Given, has gotten some useful grass runners, and his dam, Little Sister, has produced two turf winners from two foals to race on the grass. Rohan Singh has the mount on Takedown.

- Mary Rampellini