OLDSMAR, Fla. – Action Andy finished third as the favorite in the Grade 3, $100,000 Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park last time out. He returns to his favorite surface Saturday when he heads a field of nine crack sprinters in the $75,000 Super Stakes at seven furlongs.
The Super Stakes will be Action Andy’s first start in almost two months. His trainer, Carlos Garcia, said Action Andy gave him some indications after the Mr. Prospector that he needed a little break.
The Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra had all the makings of a terrific race among local fillies striving for the next level. Finding More, Dancinginthecircle, and Promise Me More are all minor stakes winners reaching for a brassier ring, while Alluring Lady, Blue Violet, Every Way, and Daddy’s Song all have recorded sharp victories at the 2012-13 meet at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
And then up pops the Pletcher juggernaut to spoil it all.
NEW ORLEANS – Targeting the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland for Daisy Devine, trainer Andrew McKeever views the Bayou Handicap on Saturday over the Fair Grounds grass course as an ideal prep.
Similar timing worked last year for Daisy Devine, McKeever said. She won the Mardi Gras in late February on the Fair Grounds turf before winning the Jenny Wiley in April.
“She’s ready to go,” McKeever said. “We schooled her in the paddock [Monday]. She was real good.”
PHOENIX – The local 3-year-old crowns are on the line Saturday at Turf Paradise in the $75,000 Turf Paradise Derby and $35,000 Arizona Oaks, and the lack of a dominant favorite in each race has resulted in two highly competitive tests. The derby, which goes as race 8, drew a field of nine males going 1 1/16 miles on dirt. The Oaks, race 6, matches 10 sophomore fillies going a mile on the main track.
Two of the great upset winners of the 2012 stakes season, Hero of Order and Golden Ticket, will square off Saturday in the Mineshaft Handicap at Fair Grounds.
Golden Ticket was disregarded last summer in the Travers Stakes, where he dead-heated with Alpha at odds of 33-1. But Golden Ticket’s surprise victory paled in comparison to the epic win Hero of Order took down in the Louisiana Derby, where he held off Mark Valeski – another Mineshaft starter – to score at odds of 109-1.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Seeking Ms Shelley, who won the $60,000 Spring Fever at Oaklawn last Sunday, could race again, said Lynden Branch, farm manager for the Dream Walkin' operation of country music artist Toby Keith. Seeking Ms Shelley was being considered for retirement before the race, and while she could still head to the breeding shed, Branch said there is a chance she might run in an upcoming stakes at Evangeline Downs.
The San Carlos over seven furlongs has a projected field of eight led by Midnight Transfer, winner of an optional claimer last month in his first start in nine months; Sahara Sky, who won the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes last month; and The Lumber Guy, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Other expected starters are Canonize, Capital Account, Comma to the Top, Drill, and Justin Philip.
Ex-jockey Almeida to saddle first runners
NEW ORLEANS – A half-hour after the end of training Wednesday morning, a Fair Grounds trainer beckoned a reporter onto a viewing stand looking out over a deserted racetrack.
“Look at that turf course,” the trainer said, pointing toward the lush green oval, blades of grass waving in a strong east wind. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a turf course look that good.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Brown Almighty, who was eighth in the Southwest at Oaklawn Park, will make his next start in the $100,000 OBS Championship at the Ocala Training Center on March 11, trainer Tim Ice said. From there, the horse will be pointed to a turf campaign. He is a stakes winner on the grass.
“We gave him a shot on the dirt, and he was climbing pretty good going into that first turn,” Ice said. “Instead of continually trying to make him a dirt horse, as well as he’s performed on turf, we’ll just go back to turf.”
NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Malcolm Pierce was not kidding when he said plans called to go slowly with the promising A.P. Indy filly Deceptive Vision.
In the second start of her career, on Jan. 4, Deceptive Vision won a two-turn dirt maiden race at Fair Grounds by 3 1/4 lengths. She is just now getting back to racing action as one of 11 3-year-old fillies entered in an interesting first-level, two-turn allowance race serving as the Friday night feature at Fair Grounds.
