Talent level far exceeds modest purse in Bonapaw Stakes

You look at the Bonapaw Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds and shake your head.

The 60,000 purse offered in the Bonapaw is the same as maiden special weight sprinters run for on the inner dirt at Aqueduct.

Suffice it to say, these are no winter-Aqueduct maidens. These are real racehorses, and the Bonapaw drew a field befitting prize money several times what is being offered.

Delaunay, Heitai, Gantry, and Unbridled’s Note – that’s some serious racing stock right there – and the high-end quartet is backed up by a solid supporting cast, headed by Bet Seattle. The Bonapaw, carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, drew eight entrants and should be a bang-up race regardless of the surface on which it is run.

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And the racing surface remains in doubt. Turf races were being contested on ground called “good” Thursday, but there is plenty of rain in the New Orleans forecast this weekend, and if the meteorological outlook holds, the Bonapaw easily could wind up on dirt.

Bonapaw Stakes, race 7

KEY CONTENDERS

Delaunay (Last 3 Beyers: 111-94-102)

◗ Reports of his decline have been greatly exaggerated. Beginning with a five-length loss to Heitai in the Duncan Kenner last spring at Fair Grounds, Delaunay looked like a horse in decline. And at age 7, with an active, successful career already behind him, that would have been understandable. But Work All Week’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint cast Delaunay’s narrow loss to him last summer in the Iowa Sprint in a better light. And then Delaunay returned from a layoff at Fair Grounds and raced brilliantly, winning the Thanksgiving Handicap. The 111 Beyer Speed Figure that win produced was the second-highest dirt-sprint figure in North America during 2014.

◗ Delaunay is set to make his first turf start since April 2012. There is no dirt race for him at Fair Grounds until mid-February, so trainer Tom Amoss and owner Maggi Moss are willing to give grass a try. Delaunay finished first, second, third, and sixth in his four turf sprints, but during that period of his career, he was nothing like the horse he has become since Moss and Amoss claimed him.

Heitai (Last 3 Beyers: 96-95-94)

◗ Trainer Karl Broberg has been very frank on the matter: Heitai is not a six-furlong horse. Heitai is as fast as any Thoroughbred in the country for five furlongs, but his superiority slips with every stride beyond that distance. Heitai has been run down late in his last two starts, both at six furlongs, and the shorter distance Saturday helps him.

◗ Heitai, by Fusaichi Pegasus, is at least as good on turf as on dirt. He has won both his grass races, including a decisive victory last summer in the $300,000 Evangeline Turf Sprint, and his connections have an eye on the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland this fall.

Gantry (Last 3 Beyers: 93-82-22)

◗ Delaunay has owned him in their many meetings, but all of them have come on dirt, and Gantry’s best recent performances – including a last-out, high-end sprint allowance win – have come on turf.

FORMULATOR FACT : Trainer Ron Faucheux has good numbers in turf sprints. Over the last five years, he has a 29 percent strike rate and a $2.30 return on investment from 105 such starters.

Unbridled’s Note (Last 3 Beyers: 90-90-81)

◗ Has earned nearly $500,000 in grass sprints but in races at longer than the Bonapaw’s 5 1/2 furlongs. Would benefit from a pace meltdown.