Telekinesis up against older in allowance

A number of the better horses in trainer Mark Casse’s Fair Grounds string will be making their next starts outside New Orleans, in places as distant as Dubai.

The only travel the promising 3-year-old Telekinesis has scheduled for his next start is a walk out of his stall, across the Fair Grounds backstretch, around the main track, through the tunnel into the paddock and back out again.

That’s the good news. The bad news – or, if not bad, then less than ideal – is that Telekinesis, in order to race the right distance with the right timing while staying at home, must face older rivals in Friday’s third race.

Telekinesis, the Stonestreet Stables-owned Ghostzapper colt who got a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for his sharp debut win Feb. 9 at Fair Grounds, was one of seven entrants in a first-level allowance race carded for one mile and 70 yards on dirt and also open to $17,500 claimers. Among the other six entered is his stablemate and fellow 3-year-old Chaos Theory.

“Obviously I’m not a big fan of running against older horses at this time of year,” said Casse. “But I’m even less of a fan of having a horse that needs to run sit in the barn.”

If Telekinesis handles two turns – and all appearances suggest he will – he’ll be on track to make his stakes debut in his next start.

Ready to make his stakes debut is another Casse-trained, Fair Grounds-based 3-year-old, Curlin’s Honor. Curlin’s Honor won his debut racing six furlongs last fall at Keeneland and didn’t start again until Feb. 25, when he overcame trouble to notch a narrow first-level sprint allowance-race win.

Curlin’s Honor, Casse said, will make his next start March 17 at Oaklawn Park in the Rebel Stakes, a race in which Casse also plans to run the Florida-based colt Mississippi. Casse said Curlin’s Honor would do all his prep work for the Rebel at Fair Grounds and ship just before the race, and that Florent Geroux, also Telekinesis’s pilot, was scheduled to ride Curlin’s Honor at Oaklawn.

Telekinesis worked a half-mile on Saturday in 48 seconds. On Friday, Holding Gold worked the same distance in 48.40 as he prepares to race March 31 in the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse. Holding Gold, who won the Grade 2 Shakertown last April at Keeneland, will be Casse’s first Dubai runner, though owing to commitments in America, Casse won’t travel for the race. His longtime assistant Randi Melton will oversee Holding Gold’s training in Dubai.

Also working a half-mile (48.80) Saturday was Valadorna, who ran below form finishing sixth in the Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 28. Casse said Valadorna races next either in the Azeri Stakes on March 17 at Oaklawn or in the Doubledogdare Stakes in April at Keeneland.