Special Ops could go in Fair Grounds Handicap

In the fall of 2014, trainer Brad Cox and GenStar Thoroughbreds claimed Chocolate Ride for $40,000. The horse blossomed over the winter at Fair Grounds and won the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz to cap a memorable meet.

Last fall, Cox and GenStar – along with partners Ten Strike Racing – claimed a horse named Special Ops for $25,000. On Sunday, Special Ops won his second straight Fair Grounds allowance race in impressive fashion, and Special Ops could wind up making his next start Feb. 25 in the Fair Grounds Handicap. Chocolate Ride won that race in 2015 and 2016 and is likely to contest it again next month along with another Cox-trained runner, Western Reserve.

“I’d rather run in a [third-level allowance], but it might not be realistic thinking that will go,” Cox said. “We’ll nominate to the stakes and take a look. I was super pleased with his race. He’s a horse that has really thrived at Fair Grounds.”

Special Ops, a 6-year-old by Big Brown, won a second-level allowance Sunday by 2 1/2 lengths, earning a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure. Last month, he won a first-level turf allowance by three lengths.

◗ The feature on Thursday’s nine-race card is race 6, a Louisiana-bred turf-sprint allowance with a $35,000 claiming option. Rock N Sake rallied strongly to just miss in the same sort of race last month and can break through Thursday.

But on a grander scale, race 3, a 3-year-old maiden sprint, might prove to be the card’s most noteworthy event. The race drew a pair of live-looking Larry Jones-trained first-time starters, Liberty Lane and Majestic Park, but has the aptly named Excitations as its most interesting prospect.

An Into Mischief colt trained by Al Stall for the Fair Grounds Racing Club, Excitations finished second by a neck to Girvin on Dec. 16, debuting in the fastest maiden sprint race of the Fair Grounds meet.