Uncapped sitting on a corker if turf is firm
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
A dry first day of 2020 in New Orleans could help Uncapped get home at overlaid odds in the featured eighth race Wednesday at Fair Grounds.
Cool, clear weather held sway Monday and was forecast to persist Tuesday before a slight chance of rain creeps into the Wednesday forecast. And from the look of his form, Uncapped wants no part of rain.
Over firm turf courses this past spring he was a decent fifth in a Keeneland turf-sprint stakes and a close, closing second in a Churchill turf-sprint stakes. And following a summer break, Uncapped returned to action at drought-parched, fast-playing Kentucky Downs with a fine third in the rich Franklin-Simpson Stakes on Sept. 12.
Dropped in class to first-level allowance races at Keeneland in October and Churchill in November, Uncapped performed at a level far below his peak, but there was autumnal give in the grass both those starts and if Uncapped merely is a top-of-the-ground sort of horse, anything close to his 8-1 morning-line odds should prove especially generous Wednesday.
Uncapped is one of 10 entrants in a first-level allowance carded for about 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. The temporary rail is scheduled to be set at 14 feet; it was at 7 feet this past weekend when the course, which held moisture, heavily favored front-running horses.
The speed types in the Wednesday feature are Just Charlie and Duncastle, the latter a course-and-distance maiden winner in his most recent start. Rail-drawn Just Might finished a fine second, beaten only a neck, at this class level and distance Dec. 7 at Fair Grounds but raced three wide from post 11 on a course strongly favoring outside paths at the time.
Locally Owned (who really is – Gayle Benson’s GMB Racing campaigns him) will be making his turf debut in his first start since Feb. 28 should this race remain on grass. Pedigree suggests he can handle the surface switch, and should the race be moved to dirt, Locally Owned moves up.
In race 7, 3-year-old maiden colts and geldings go 1 1/16 miles around two turns on dirt in a race that drew seven entrants. Elite Class was scratched from a similar spot Dec. 21 because of wet conditions, and his dry-track form at Ellis Park and Keeneland last year makes him the horse to beat. But Major Fed, who will offer longer odds, can beat him. Major Fed looked like a route horse in waiting debuting in a one-turn race in November at Churchill Downs for owner-breeder Lloyd Madison Farms and trainer Greg Foley. Those same connections campaigned Major Fed’s full brother, Zapperini, who debuted in a November 2015 one-turn race at Churchill before winning a two-turn maiden race on Jan. 21, 2016, at Fair Grounds.
