Ward pair of Outadore and Fauci double trouble in Juvenile Turf Sprint

The Wesley Ward-trained 2-year-old colt Golden Pal might be the best 2-year-old turf sprinter in the world right now. Ward’s saving him for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, yet still has the two shortest morning-line prices for the $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint on Saturday.

Outadore is listed at 2-1, Fauci at 5-2 for this 6 1/2-furlong contest (which is more like seven furlongs accounting for the 330-foot run-up), which seems like wise-guy pricing since Fauci is the more accomplished of the pair. Fauci finished second debuting on dirt this summer at Belmont, easily won a Keeneland maiden race when moved to turf, and on Aug. 21 finished second to Golden Pal in the Skidmore at Saratoga.

Outadore was an easy debut winner in a turf sprint July 29 at Saratoga, and Ward thinks the longer break between starts will help him.

“Fauci is a little more seasoned, but the other guy has a little more spacing between races,” Ward said. “It’s going to be a good race between the two of mine, and there are some others in there, too.”

There’s plenty of speed lined up in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, but Canterbury Park shipper Bodenheimer might be the quickest of the bunch. He shot to the lead right out of the gate on the way to an 11 1/2-length Canterbury turf-sprint debut win that produced a field-best 82 Beyer Speed Figure. Trainer Valorie Lund thought Bodenheimer would prove to be a better dirt horse, but after he gutted out a narrow Prairie Meadows stakes win, looking little like the horse that won first time out, Bodenheimer is back to turf. The colt had an adverse reaction to Lasix on Aug. 17 and thus races without the anti-bleeder medication.

Cowan, trained by Steve Asmussen, dueled and faded in the Ellis Park Juvenile on Aug. 9, but races for the first time in blinkers, and as a son of Kantharos, the move to turf could benefit him.

Got Stormy changes up

Trainer Mark Casse long has contemplated trying Got Stormy in a turf sprint race, and Saturday at Kentucky Downs the mare finally gets the opportunity.

Got Stormy debuted in a two-turn 7 1/2-furlong race in December 2017 and since has started in races at one mile or longer. She’s run one-turn miles, but the $500,000 Ladies Sprint, carded at about 6 1/2 furlongs, marks the shortest race of her career.

“It’s something I’ve thought a lot about,” Casse said. “This is a good chance to try it.”

Got Stormy might have been headed for an intriguing showdown with the elite talent Kimari, but trainer Wesley Ward said he was likely to scratch Kimari from Saturday’s race in favor of a start against fellow 3-year-olds Sunday at Kentucky Downs.

Got Stormy finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile last year and beat males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave, also at a mile, but Casse believes the mare truly only stays a mile on firm, fast-playing ground. A long sprint, he believes, might be a more natural fit for her talents.

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Got Stormy’s raw ability can’t be questioned, but she’s struggled this year to hit her 2019 form, which, to be fair, was extraordinary. It wasn’t until the Aug. 22 Fourstardave, where Got Stormy finished second to perfect-trip Halladay, that she ran a race approaching her 2019 peak.

“Everybody wants to knock her and say she’s not as good as she used to be,” said Casse, who doesn’t subscribe to that belief.

Casse said he has no strong feeling about how Got Stormy will take to the European-style course at Kentucky Downs. “We’ve had meets where all our horses ran well over it and meets where nothing ran well,” he said. “You absolutely just never know.”

Got Stormy and jockey Tyler Gaffalione should have plenty of pace at which to run, with a host of front-running types entered. Winning Envelope, who’s 20-1 on the morning line, also stands to benefit if the early and middle pace gets too hot.

Brown sends two in Ladies

Until this week, trainer Chad Brown had started only one horse at Kentucky Downs, and that came back in 2015, but Brown has been in steady action this meeting, winning the opening-day Tourist Mile with Flavius. Saturday, he has two contenders for the $500,000 Ladies Turf, Tapit Today and Regal Glory, who is listed as the 9-5 favorite in the one-mile contest.

Regal Glory, Jose Ortiz named to ride, no doubt has faced the stiffest recent competition among this race’s entrants. She was fourth last out in the Grade 1 Just a Game, a race in which Newspaperofrecord and Beau Recall, the second- and first-place finishers last Saturday in the Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs, were followed home by champion 2019 turf mare Uni. In her previous race, the Grade 3 Intercontinental, Regal Glory was beaten only by multiple Grade 1 winner Newspaperofrecord.

But Regal Glory came nowhere near winning either of those starts, and while she fits solidly enough Saturday, she has no real edge on others in the race. That includes her stablemate Tapit Today, who cuts back to a more favorable distance after racing 1 1/8 miles in her last two starts.

Secret Message also should benefit from turning back to a mile, a distance at which she has gone 2-1-0 from three starts. Mitchell Road, who finished second in this race’s 2019 renewal, could make a clear lead from the rail.