Upset Brewing back at one turn in allowance sprint

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn could see more of the 3-year-old filly Upset Brewing at this meet depending on how the Fair Grounds shipper fares in the featured eighth race Friday.

“We’ll find out if she likes the track, and if she does, we might look at future races there in the spring,” said trainer Buff Bradley.

Upset Brewing has placed in four stakes and ran fifth in the Grade 2 Pocahontas in September at Churchill Downs.

The eighth race is one of two on the card featuring 3-year-old fillies. It is an optional $62,500 claimer with first-level allowance conditions at six furlongs. The sixth race has the same conditions but covers 1 1/16 miles.

Upset Brewing is part of an eight-horse field that includes Elusive Truth, a sharp maiden winner at Keeneland and a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Verdana Bold, and Bo Peep, a maiden special weight winner the first day of the Oaklawn meet, Jan. 12.

Upset Brewing worked a sharp five-eighths in 1:00.40 on Jan. 26 at Fair Grounds. She is cutting back to one turn after running second in the $60,000 Take Charge Brandi on Jan. 12 at Delta Downs. The seven-furlong race was run on a six-furlong track.

“She was not running on the turns,” Bradley said. “I’m thinking the turns were a bit tighter and banked. I’m thinking going back to the one turn might help her a bit.”

The last time Upset Brewing raced at one turn, she was second by a nose in the Letellier Memorial in December at Fair Grounds, earning a career-high 81 Beyer Speed Figure.

Upset Brewing will break from post 8 with Alex Canchari aboard for Allied Racing Stable.

“She’s pretty versatile in her races,” Bradley said. “She’s still maturing and learning. Drawing the outside is to our advantage.

“With her being on the outside, I’m thinking Alex could be sitting in any kind of position he wants to be in out there, seeing what the pace looks like.”

Upset Brewing is by Justin Phillip, a Grade 1 winner who captured the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn.

First Alternate and Nucla look like the chief contenders in the sixth race. First Alternate was second to the stakes-bound Sassy Sienna in a Jan. 15 allowance at Oaklawn. The race was at a mile, and the added ground First Alternate picks up Friday should suit the daughter of Oaklawn Handicap winner Alternation. First Alternate is a half-sister to Now I Know, a Grade 3 winner at two turns who earned $461,721.

Nucla won her maiden in her two-turn debut Jan. 11 at Fair Grounds, and her 81 Beyer is the best in the field Friday.