Who Took the Money towers over rivals in allowance

Betting Bret Calhoun-trained grass runners during this Fair Grounds season would have been a highly profitable enterprise, but you are not going to get rich wagering that Calhoun will win the featured sixth race Thursday in New Orleans.

Calhoun already has six turf winners from 17 runners during a meet that began on Thanksgiving. Only Excess Magic, 2-1 in the Woodchopper Stakes, has been favored among the winning set, and Calhoun’s turf starters have yielded a $5.57 return on investment.

Who Took the Money stands an excellent chance of adding to the barn’s win total Thursday, but won’t do much for the ROI as the likely odds-on favorite in a Louisiana-bred allowance race with a $35,000 claiming option. Calhoun and owner Chester Thomas considered Who Took the Money for the Dec. 27 Woochopper, but took a pass because Who Took the Money had turned in a dazzling performance just 16 days earlier capturing the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Turf.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures.

Making his second start on turf, Who Took the Money came to the quarter pole in the Champions Day Turf some 10 lengths behind the leader. By the eighth pole, rallying wide, Who Took the Money had nearly made the front, and at the sixteenth pole he’d already buried his rivals, going on to a 5 3/4-length score. Who Took the Money earned a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure while looking like a horse who could contend in open turf stakes, and he should make short work of Thursday’s foes provided the race remains on grass.

Grand Luwegee, another Champions Day winner, stands poised to capitalize if Thursday’s races get rained onto dirt. Grand Luwegee, who isn’t hapless on turf, won the Champions Day Classic over nine furlongs on dirt for the second year in a row, though bettors should note that the 7-year-old has struggled to string together top performances. Who Took the Money also is a three-time winner on dirt and can still win with a surface switch, even if he demonstrated last month that grass is his preferred surface.

◗ O Besos, fifth in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, prevailed by a nose in a Sunday allowance race while making his first start since finishing second in the Matt Winn Stakes on May 29 at Churchill Downs. O Besos, winning for the third time in eight starts, held on over Intrepid Heart in his comeback run, with the top two finishing eight lengths in front of the third-place horse while racing over a good, sealed track.

◗ Pappacap, second in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, had his second work at Fair Grounds when breezing five furlongs Sunday in a bullet 59 seconds. Trainer Mark Casse is pointing Pappacap toward the Jan. 22 Lecomte Stakes.