Three races co-featured on Monday's Lundi Gras card
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Three entry-level optional-claiming races – one for older horses going two turns on dirt, another for older female dirt sprinters, and a 3-year-old filly turf sprint – headline a special Monday racing program at Fair Grounds.
The New Orleans track was dark Sunday because it races Tuesday, which is Mardi Gras, and Monday, which is known as Lundi Gras.
The nine-race Monday card commences at 12:30 p.m. Central and has the 3-year-old filly turf sprint positioned as race 8, the standard spot for a daily feature. The race drew a competitive field of 11, is open to $50,000 claimers, and will be contested with the temporary inner rail set at eight feet.
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The pick to rally into a quick, contested pace and win is Western Taffy, who makes her first start since Nov. 8. David Carroll, assistant trainer to Mark Casse, will give a leg up to his son, Declan Carroll, who rides Western Taffy for the first time.
Western Taffy has started only once on turf, finishing a distant second Aug. 17 in the 6 1/2-furlong Catch a Glimpse Stakes at Woodbine, won in a romp by Fair Maiden. Fair Maiden couldn’t hold her form through season’s end but in late summer was as fast as any 2-year-old filly in North America, and Western Taffy might not have loved a wet course in the Catch a Glimpse.
Trainer Mike Stidham appears to have two live chances here, Call On Mischief and Summers Hope. Call On Mischief failed to show her best when tried in a dirt route last time out and missed by a nose in a race at this class level and distance two starts ago. Summers Hope scored a front-running, 6 3/4-length debut win Jan. 23 in a maiden race rained off turf and onto dirt and might prove to be a better filly on grass.
In race 7, an older-horse dirt-route allowance, Chess Chief is 4-5 on the morning line, and probably for good reason. Chess Chief has lost his last two starts, both first-level allowances, as an odds-on favorite but ran well enough both times to win Monday. In his most recent race, Jan. 4 at Fair Grounds, he faced Aurelius Maximus, who ran one of the fastest dirt routes of this entire meeting.
