String King will target Fair Grounds Handicap

A disappointed Charlie Smith drove back to northwest Louisiana last weekend but left the star of his two-horse stable, String King, at Fair Grounds with trainer Kenny Hargrave. String King finished fifth last weekend in the Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap, a race he won in 2015, and Smith felt String King never had a chance in the race.

“He didn’t get a chance to run but 70 yards, so he came out of it good. Normally, I’d take him home and get ready for the [Mervin Muniz in March], but I left him with Kenny and plan to run in the Fair Grounds Handicap,” said Smith, who bred, owns, and trains String King.

The Fair Grounds Handicap, a Grade 3 race worth $125,000, is Feb. 20.

Smith had hoped String King would race close to the pace in the Bradley, won by early leader Chocolate Ride, but String King raced from seventh for much of the trip, and Smith believes his trip was compromised.

“I was upset about it. It more or less was just a published workout,” Smith said.

There’s also the chance that String King, an 8-year-old Louisiana-bred millionaire with 18 wins from 40 starts, has declined, but String King did have a terrible trip while finishing second last month in the Louisiana Champions Day Turf, and the Fair Grounds Handicap should help clarify where String King actually stands at this late stage of his career.

Leigh Court eyes Mardi Gras

The multiple graded-stakes-winning mare Leigh Court worked a snappy half-mile in 48 seconds Monday and could make her 2016 debut Feb. 9 in the Mardi Gras Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint at Fair Grounds, trainer Mike Stidham said.

Leigh Court is a 6-year-old, but Stidham said plans call for her to race throughout 2016. The winner of the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes in 2014 at Keeneland, Leigh Court finished eighth in the 2015 running of that race when last seen in October, and Stidham said the mare struggled on a sloppy track after good races on turf and Tapeta at Woodbine and Presque Isle Downs in her first two starts of the season.

“She’s doing great right now mentally and physically,” said Stidham.

Louisiana-breds in feature

The highest-class race on the Friday program is race 7, a second-level optional $20,000 claiming dirt sprint for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares. The Tom Amoss-trained Ramona’s Wildcat looks like the favorite, but she’s vulnerable, and handicappers would be well served to dig deeper in a race that appears to be packed with speed elements.