Two solid turf features on Wednesday card

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Florida-breds take center stage Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs for Florida Cup Day, which features six stakes races worth $75,000 apiece that are restricted to statebreds. But the racing week begins Wednesday with a pair of solid features for open company on a 10-race card.

Race 4 is a third-level optional $62,500 claimer offering a $25,500 purse. The 1 1/16-mile turf race drew a field of six older horses, including the millionaire 9-year-old gelding Mister Marti Gras, who will be making his second start of the year.

Mister Marti Gras, trained by Chris Block for Lothenbach Stables Inc., most recently finished a close fifth in a conditioned allowance here Feb. 20 that extended his losing streak to 13 races dating to June 2014. But seven of those losses came in graded stakes, including a runner-up finish last July in the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup at Arlington Park. Mister Marti Gras is the 5-2 third choice on the track’s morning line.

Block also will send out 2-1 second choice Bold Rally, who has finished fourth in both of his starts since capturing the restricted, $50,000 Cicero Handicap on the Hawthorne grass course in October.

The 9-5 morning-line favorite is Ghost Hunter, who will be getting class relief after finishing last of seven in the Challenger Stakes on the main track here last month for trainer Jamie Ness. In Ghost Hunter’s most recent turf race Jan. 13, he scored a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure, losing by a neck to Dannhauser while second in an optional $100,000 claimer.

Ghost Hunter, a 6-year-old Ghostzapper gelding, is a 10-time winner but will be looking for his first victory on turf in his fifth attempt.

Race 8 is a first-level, $23,000 allowance covering one mile on turf. It drew a full field of 10 older horses, plus one also-eligible in Nipigon, the runner-up in the Coronation Futurity at Woodbine in November 2014. Nipigon (9-2 morning line) has made only one subsequent start, finishing ninth in an allowance on the Keeneland turf last April. He’s been training steadily for Rachel Halden at Payson Park.

The contenders in the main body of the field include Lock N Roll (6-1), High Side (5-2), and Natural Order (3-1). Lock N Roll will be shortening up half a furlong after setting the pace and finishing third in a similar allowance March 16 in which High Side rallied to be fifth. Natural Order won a $30,000 claimer for non-winners of two races lifetime at Gulfstream Park last out March 3, scoring by a neck after setting the pace in that 7 1/2-furlong turf race.