Team Block invades for two stakes
Trainer Chris Block is an Arlington guy. His family, Team Block, long has been among the leading breeders and owners in Illinois, and Block trains for Arlington chairman Dick Duchossois. No wonder his stock makes only rare appearances a few hours southeast at Indiana Grand, where Block has started only two horses during his career.
But owing to changed circumstances in Illinois, Block is at Indiana with three horses for two turf stakes Saturday night. In a normal year, Nun the Less and Oak Brook would be starting in the Arlington Classic for 3-year-olds on grass, but that race was scrapped this year, and both are entered in the $75,000 PDJF (Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund) Stakes, a 7 1/2-furlong grass race for 3-year-olds.
For the $75,000 Indy Star, for 3-year-old filly turfers, Block has another major player, Prado’s Sweet Ride, unbeaten in her three grass starts.
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First post for the 10-race card at Indiana Grand is 6:05 p.m. Eastern. The Indy Star goes as race 3, the PDJF as race 5. Weather could be a major factor: The National Weather Service predicts an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, and the turf course at Indiana Grand already took a soaking earlier this week.
Nun the Less, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the PDJF, though, has handled all sorts of surfaces, including a win over a muddy main track last fall at Keeneland. He won a second-level turf allowance for 3-year-olds at Keeneland in April and appeared to run a bit below his best form when finishing sixth, beaten 5 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 2 American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
The short-route distance Saturday night, as well as the tight Indiana course, should play to the athleticism of Nun the Less, who has shown good form in sprint races on turf, synthetic, and dirt. That might not be the case with Block’s second horse, though, as Oak Brook scored a last-out win in a slow-paced, 1 3/16-mile race at Keeneland and appears to be more of a grinding, staying type.
Saham also looks like a significant player. He sharply cleared the maiden ranks at this PDJF distance this past winter in Florida and was a close third last out in the Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland, a race won by the good colt Night Prowler.
The filly Prado’s Sweet Ride is by the Blocks’ solid stallion Fort Prado, and she has so far done nothing wrong on grass, winning a maiden turf race in her second start, capturing a first-level Keeneland allowance to conclude her 2-year-old campaign, and beating older horses at Tampa Bay Downs in a second-level optional claimer to kick off her 3-year-old season. The distance and likely race shape in the Indy Star also appear to suit Prado’s Sweet Ride, who, like Nun the Less, will be ridden by Florent Geroux.
Mighty Souper looks like the main danger. She did get a favorable setup in winning her maiden last out at Churchill but made the most of it, has come back to work fast, and has the look of an improving filly for trainer Mark Casse.