Turf stakes back on the menu at Fair Grounds with Blushing K. D., Diliberto
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Fair Grounds on Monday’s nine-stakes card finally is set run the first turf races of a meet already a month old.
Regular course watering during a drought this fall came from a well contaminated with salt-water that killed or damaged grass on inner lanes. Those inside paths still can’t be used, and Monday’s races will be run with the temporary rail at 34 feet, with fields restricted to eight runners.
Eight are entered in the $100,000 Blushing K. D., restricted to fillies and mares and carded at 1 1/16 miles. The field is less than stellar, but on the brighter side, the three shortest prices on the morning line are beatable.
A Mo Reay, the 3-1 favorite, makes her first start since being purchased for $400,000 in November, subsequently moving from trainer Todd Pletcher to Brad Cox. A Mo Reay was a decent closing third three months ago in the age- and sex-restricted Riskaverse Stakes, but that’s her career peak, and the filly’s top Beyer Speed Figure stands at a modest 83.
Lake Lucerne, 7-2, is somewhat faster but brings to the Blushing K. D. a 10-race losing streak dating to a nose win in a second-level allowance 15 months ago. Carpe Vinum, also 7-2, had a 10-race losing streak of her own before a perfect pace setup propelled her to a second-level turf allowance score six months ago at Santa Anita; Carpe Vinum hasn’t started since July and also changes trainers, going from Phil D’Amato to John Ortiz.
Still another horse in a new barn also is in the field: Oliviaofthedesert, who raced 21 times for Kenny McPeek but now goes for Wayne Catalano. While Oliviaofthedesert is 5 for 13 on dirt and winless from seven grass races, she might be equally capable on turf. Three grass races came at quirky Kentucky Downs, another over a yielding Keeneland course, a fifth in her career debut, and a sixth in Oliviaofthedesert’s return from a layoff. Most recently, she pressed a solid pace and finished fourth, beaten less than one length, in a Keeneland allowance race stronger than the Blushing K. D. Park Avenue, a neck in front of her at Keeneland, has Southern California form distinctly superior to Carpe Vinum’s. Catalano said last week the filly was training with verve, an assertion her workout pattern supports.
The open grass stakes, race 10, is the $100,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial, another 1 1/16-mile contest, this one attracting a full field of eight at least as difficult to parse as the Blushing K. D.
Spooky Channel and Captivating Moon, each with earnings over $600,000, are the most accomplished entrants, but both are totally exposed in the final weeks of their 7-year-old seasons. Spooky Channel, probably best at 1 1/2 miles, hasn’t started since he sustained an injury following a good win 14 months ago in the Sycamore Stakes over 12 furlongs. Captivating Moon’s lone Fair Grounds grass win came on a sodden course; he was cross-entered in the Tenacious on Monday but is likely for the Diliberto, trainer Chris Block said.
The pick is a Joe Sharp-trained exacta, Spanish Kingdom over Big Agenda. Winless from seven 2022 starts, Spanish Kingdom nonetheless produced solid form during fall. He was a close third this past February at Fair Grounds racing for the first time in 10 months and after contesting the pace on a course biased toward outside closers.
Big Agenda has been a mere $25,000 claimer much of this year but appears to be back to his best and has a win over the local lawn.
Mr. Wireless drawn outside
Mr. Wireless’s route to victory from $100,000 Tenacious Stakes starts from the far outside.
Drawn in post 13 for the 1 1/16-mile Tenacious, Mr. Wireless moves to post 12 if Captivating Moon is scratched, and while post 12 is no bargain, things have been falling the right way for trainer Bret Calhoun, leading Fair Grounds trainer through Dec. 22 with 13 winners.
Mr. Wireless helps his own cause with tactical speed to secure a decent stalking spot into the first turn. A winner in half his dozen starts, Mr. Wireless already is sufficiently fast and as a lightly raced 4-year-old still can get faster. His lone step back this season came in a 1 3/16-mile contest farther than his best, Mr. Wireless’s only race without the anti-bleeder medication Lasix.
Chess Chief won a photo over Happy American in the 2021 Tenacious; both return no faster, and possibly slower, than they were then.
At 7-2, Forza Di Oro holds morning-line favoritism. Here’s hoping he attracts that kind of action making his first start for trainer Brad Cox. Forza Di Oro’s lone stakes win came in the nine-furlong Discovery more than two years ago. He ran dismally in his only 2022 start and, at the expected price, should be approached with extreme skepticism.
The Tenacious’s sister race, the $100,000 Spanky Broussard Memorial, drew just five fillies and mares, with Charlie’s Penny the defined favorite in a one mile 70-yard contest. Charlie’s Penny’s lone two-turn start yielded a win in the Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds in January 2021. The mare’s career then went on a long pause because of injuries, but trainer Chris Block has coaxed her back into her best form this fall.
Richard Scherer Memorial
Trainers running horses returning from a long layoff often wish they had another week to train them. Cherie DeVaux, trainer of Tulane Tryst, wishes she had another two.
Tulane Tryst is 2-1-0 from three Fair Grounds starts but hasn’t raced since May. The $100,000 Richard Scherer Memorial wasn’t on DeVaux’s radar until it was moved from turf to dirt. “I think he might need the race,” DeVaux said.
Too bad, because Tulane Tryst otherwise is interesting in a well-matched field of seven set to race six furlongs.
Manny Wah is the 3-1 morning-line favorite following a close fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. In November 2021, he finished second at 2-1 in the Thanksgiving Classic at Fair Grounds after a fifth in the BC Sprint.
Bango, Miles Ahead, and Surveillance also run the Richard Scherer.
In Kentucky, Bango and Miles Ahead are faster than Surveillance, but Surveillance ran his perfect Fair Grounds mark to 3 for 3 in the Thanksgiving Classic a month ago. With a three-horse pace battle possible, Surveillance could get the right setup to win a fourth at Fair Grounds, likely at a fair price.
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