Stall and staff pump out three opening-weekend winners

No trainer had a better two-day Fair Grounds opening week than Al Stall, who sent out three winners and two second-place horses from six starters last Saturday and Sunday.

Stall won on Saturday with Louisiana-bred first-time starter Philly and on Sunday swept the card’s last two races with Seaside Candy, who looked good in winning the Si Cima Stakes for Louisiana-bred dirt-route females, and with another Louisiana-bred first-time starter, Sharp Henny.

“Let me tell you, Pam had these suckers ready to roll,” Stall said, referring to his longtime assistant Pam Fitzgerald.

While Stall stables in Kentucky and at Saratoga, Fitzgerald oversees the Louisiana string, and the three opening-weekend winners came from that division.

Philly, a gelding from the first crop of Star Guitar, whom Stall also trained, won the eighth race Saturday, a 5 1/2-furlong Louisiana-bred maiden race, by three-quarters of a length. Stall said Philly is likely to come back Dec. 10 in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile. Sharp Henny, a filly, will probably benefit from a little more time between starts, Stall said, and will be pointed to the Louisiana Futurity on Dec. 31.

As for Seaside Candy, she got a career-best 82 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Si Cima by four lengths and will make her next start in the Champions Day Ladies. Seaside Candy was racing with blinkers off after racing so erratically in the homestretch of her prior race Aug. 20 at Evangeline Downs that she ran into the fence.

“She’s a big, strong filly, but she’s always had a mind of her own,” Stall said.