Unbeaten Tensas Phone Call steps up

The undefeated Tensas Phone Call will get tested for class on Saturday night, when he meets established sprinters Cort's P.B. and Zarb's Dahar in the $50,000 Cypress at Delta Downs. The race is one of two stakes for Louisiana-breds on the card, and both should produce starters for the $1 million Louisiana Premier Night program of stakes here Feb. 3.

Tensas Phone Call has won all three of his starts, beginning with a 7 1/2-length maiden special weight score at Evangeline Downs on March 8. A month later he won a first-level allowance at the track by 4 1/2 lengths. Tensas Phone Call did not race again until December, when he skipped home by 10 3/4 lengths in a second-level allowance at Fair Grounds.

He will be racing around two turns for the first time in the seven-furlong Cypress. Trainer Troy Young has given the mount to Curt Bourque.

The biggest threat is the rail-drawn Cort's P.B., who two starts ago won the $75,000 Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105. In his most recent start, he was third in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Sprint. Trainer Patrick Mouton has given the mount to E.J. Perrodin.

Zarb's Dahar also raced in the Sprint last out, finishing sixth. He is a multiple stakes winner and the highest earner in the Cypress field, with $441,625. Trainer James Hodges has given the mount to Tracy Hebert.

Carl's Frosty Girl is the one to beat in the $50,000 Camelia, a seven-furlong race for fillies and mares. In her last start, she won the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint, closing from eighth in the six-furlong race at Fair Grounds on Dec. 9.

One start earlier, Carl's Frosty Girl closed for second to wire-to-wire winner Grand Facile in the $75,000 Magnolia around two turns at Delta on Nov. 18. Mouton trains, Perrodin will ride.

The chief threat in the 10-horse field could be Raspberry Wine, who was third last out in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies at 1 1/16 miles. The race was her first start since October.

Stemmans mixed auction goes on Sunday

Stemmans Inc. will put on its annual winter mixed sale at Traders Rest Farm in Scott, La., on Sunday. There are 131 horses cataloged to the auction, which will offer broodmares, yearlings, and horses of racing age. Among the stallions represented by yearlings in the sale are Autocracy, Gold Tribute, Leestown, and Tenpins.

Also on Sunday, Traders Rest Farm will conduct a stallion show. Among stallions to be on parade are Be Like Mike, a stakes winner by Unbridled's Song; Wire Me Collect, the sire of recent Delta stakes winner All Wired Up; and Whiff of Indy, a son of A.P. Indy.

The sale and stallion show will begin at 11 a.m. Central.

Calhoun hot at Sam Houston

Trainer Bret Calhoun is winning races at a 39 percent rate at Sam Houston, and can add to his totals Saturday night when he starts a handful of capable runners in a pair of 3-year-old allowances. In the sixth, at two turns, he has leading contenders Snifters Spirit and El Kabong. In the eighth, a sprint for fillies, he has top contenders Love Star and Lady Lyndon.