ARCADIA, Calif. – Mizdirection has a nearly perfect record in turf sprints, which will make her a short-priced favorite in Saturday’s $70,000 Clocker’s Corner Handicap at Santa Anita.
In four starts in such races, she has won three times and finished a troubled second in the other race.
“With any luck, she should be an unbeaten turf sprinter,” trainer Mike Puype said.
[MORE: PPs and video previews for the Saturday card at Santa Anita]
Chamberlain Bridge won the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and started off his 2011 season with a stakes win, and all seemed well in the world of one of the country’s top grass dashers. By the end of 2011, that had changed. Chamberlain Bridge took some tough trips and experienced some bad luck, but he lost six straight races after that first victory last year. After getting wiped out on the turn in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Chamberlain Bridge clunked home fourth in a Nov. 24 Churchill allowance race, and it seemed fair to wonder if Chamberlain Bridge had nowhere to go but down.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In college basketball, midseason meetings between the number one- and number two-ranked teams are well-hyped, often meaningless, and usually long forgotten by the time the Big Dance rolls around. On the Kentucky Derby trail, confrontations between the number one and two prospects 10 weeks in advance of the main event are rare, highly anticipated, and a bit more relevant – but perhaps no real harbinger of what to expect on the first Saturday of May.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – The decision by the connections of 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom to skip the Grade 3, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes in favor of an allowance race at Gulfstream Park for his first start of 2012 took a bit of the luster off Saturday’s feature at Tampa Bay Downs. But the presence of million-dollar earner Duke of Mischief and Lentenor, full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, in the overflow field of 13 help make the 1 1/16th-mile turf race an intriguing challenge for bettors.
NEW ORLEANS – Mardi Gras may have ended Tuesday, but in this city, the rallying cry is always “laissez les bons temps rouler.” At Fair Grounds on Saturday, the good times roll with a stakes-packed Louisiana Derby preview card, highlighted by a Grade 2, $300,000 Risen Star Stakes in which the locals will try to defend their honor against a visitor.
Already a two-time stakes winner at Turfway Park this winter, Lotta Lovin will stretch out to two turns when she tries to extend her winning streak Saturday as a solid favorite in the $50,000 Valdale Stakes at the northern Kentucky track.
Owned by New York businessman Buck Butler and part of the local string trained by Mike Maker, Lotta Lovin comes off back-to-back victories in the Gowell and Cincinnati Trophy, both of which were run around one turn. The Valdale is a two-turn mile race over Polytrack.
Puddy Tap has done little wrong in four career starts. She’s won at one turn and two, has never been worse than second, and has put up a string of consistent Beyer Speed Figures. She gets a shot at stakes competition Saturday night in the $50,000 Sam Houston Distaff at Sam Houston Race Park.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Anthony Dutrow mapped out a plan for Grace Hall from the moment she won her career debut last summer at Delaware Park, a plan that called for a 3-year-old campaign that would begin Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 2, $250,000 Davona Dale.
NEW ORLEANS – Before he got here last fall, Mr. Vegas had won just 4 times in 18 starts, and was pretty much stuck at the second allowance level when facing open company. His early speed figured to be compromised over a Fair Grounds grass course that traditionally devours front-runners.
“I thought he’d be in trouble at this track,” said his trainer, Richie Scherer. “I thought I’d run him once and turn him out. He’s won three in a row. What do I know?”
