Stidham pair hard to separate in turf feature

At this point in the Fair Grounds meet, handicappers might have just decided to keep things very, very simple. See a Mike Stidham horse in a race, bet the Mike Stidham horse in the race. But there is a complicating factor in Sunday’s featured eighth race at Fair Grounds, a second-level optional $40,000 claimer for fillies and mares going about a mile on turf: Stidham has two entrants.

Worse still, Graceful Grit and Voluptuous look very difficult to separate.

“They’re pretty close in ability,” said Stidham.

The Stidham stable won its meet-best 11th race on Thursday’s card with its highest-priced winner of the meet, Mi Fiori, who paid $25.60 winning a turf-sprint maiden special weight by two lengths under Patrick Valenzuela. The price was so high because Mi Fiori hadn’t raced since she ran up the track at Keeneland in her second career start in October 2014. Stidham worried that the filly was a work short of her best, but he needn’t have, the way his barn has been rolling.

Nine of the stable’s wins have come in grass races, and of the 37 turf routes contested so far this meet, Stidham has won eight of them. Another such victory could easily be added to the ledger Sunday, with Stidham giving a slight edge to Voluptuous over Graceful Grit.

“Voluptuous is doing good again,” he said. “She should have won that race the other day at Laurel.”

Voluptuous was making her move in a race at this class level last out at Laurel Park when she was pushed outside. She kept on and finished third, beaten less than one length, and is better than her lone race over the Fair Grounds turf would suggest.

Graceful Grit got stuck behind a walking pace in her last start, finishing third to the pacesetting winner, Masquerade – trained, of course, by Stidham.

Both horses would benefit from a quicker early and middle pace than they are likely to get Sunday, but the first month of this meet, things have tended to work out for Stidham horses even when the setup appears less than ideal.