Vicar's in Trouble targets Super Derby
Vicar’s in Trouble is coming home to Louisiana, at least for a brief visit. Trainer Mike Maker said the Louisiana-bred is to make his next start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Super Derby. The race anchors the richest card of the Louisiana Downs meet Sept. 6.
Maker said Rosie Napravnik is scheduled to ride Vicar’s in Trouble.
The last time Vicar’s in Trouble visited his home state, he won the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 29. Napravnik was aboard. The horse will enter the Super Derby off a third-pace finish in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby on Aug. 2.
“The timing works well, and obviously it’s a nice purse,” Maker said of targeting the Super Derby.
Maker said he also plans to ship a few other horses into Louisiana Downs for the undercard stakes on Super Derby Day. Vicar’s in Trouble is scheduled to have his final work for the Super Derby on Aug. 30 and will ship from Churchill Downs a few days before the race, according to Maker.
Vicar’s in Trouble set the pace to the late stages in the West Virginia Derby and finished two lengths behind the winner, Tapiture. Vicar’s in Trouble equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure, a 98. Departing followed a similar pattern into last year’s Super Derby, a race he won after capturing the West Virginia Derby.
The Super Derby will be supported by six other stakes, making the program worth more than $900,000. The card includes a pair of $75,000 turf routes for 2-year-olds, the Sunday Silence and Happy Ticket.
Super Derby Day will have a special first post of noon Central, said Trent McIntosh, director of operations at Louisiana Downs. He said the 1 1/8-mile race will be part of an all-stakes pick four that will have a guaranteed pool of $100,000.
Stakes winners clash in turf feature
The stakes winners Blading Wild Cat and Hometown Gossip will meet in the overnight ranks Sunday at Louisiana Downs in a highly competitive second-level optional $17,500 claimer for fillies and mares going about 7 1/2 furlongs on turf.
The card also includes a second-level allowance for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs. Zip Her Up and Smeauxkininthelane both exit the same key race, with the winner and third-place finisher from it returning to take local optional claimers in their next starts with respective Beyer Speed Figures of 70 and 85.
Race 5
KEY CONTENDERS
Blading Wild Cat (Last 3 Beyers: 57-61-70)
◗ She won the $75,000 Crescent City Oaks at Fair Grounds on March 29. The race was on the main track, and she will be making her first start on grass. In her most recent outing, Blading Wild Cat was third in the off-the-turf Elge Rasberry at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 2. Don Simington has the mount for trainer Jim Hodges.
Hometown Gossip (Last 3 Beyers: 75-67-65)
◗ The winner of the Louisiana Jewel at Delta Downs at 2, she enters Sunday’s race off a runner-up finish to the well-regarded Synapse in an off-the-turf optional claimer at Evangeline Downs.
◗ In a rare start on grass, Hometown Gossip was second in an optional-claiming route at Louisiana Downs in May. Colby Hernandez has the mount for trainer Joey Foster.
Midge Four (Last 3 Beyers: 71-78-66)
◗ She is multiple stakes-placed and seems to have stepped up her game since she began racing on turf on a regular basis in May.
◗ Midge Four is out of Midge Too, a multiple stakes-winning mare who earned $506,283.
Art Preston into Texas Hall of Fame
Art Preston, who raced Flat Out, a multiple Grade 1 winner of $3.6 million, will be inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame in an Oct. 18 ceremony at Retama Park near San Antonio.
Preston is part of a class that also includes Joe McDermott, Cecil Perkins, Jerry Rheudasil, and Leo Wood. The individuals were announced on the website of the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
The inductions will be complemented by a turf stakes double at Retama. The track will run the $50,000 Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Stakes and the $50,000 Fiesta Mile on Oct. 18. Retama opens its Thoroughbred meet a month earlier this year on Sept. 5.