Photo: CDI
Prime Equestrian’s Flash Mash, undefeated in her
first two starts but a disappointment in the $200,000 My Trusty Cat Stakes at
Delta Downs at last asking, heads a field of seven sophomore fillies in
Saturday’s inaugural running of the six-furlong $60,000 Tiffany Lass
Stakes at Fair Grounds.
The new Tiffany Lass Stakes, now at three-quarters of a
mile, could still serve as a steppingstone for a late-developing 3-year-old
filly to be considered as a possibility for the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks
on Louisiana Derby Day March 26.
Flash Mash, despite her unimpressive last outing, has been
installed as the 9-5 morning line choice Saturday and the highly-regarded Mike
Stidham trainee could remain on the radar for the Fair Grounds Oaks with
the right kind of run this weekend. That’s because the daughter of 2004
Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones has the breeding to
indicate she could get the 1 1/16-mile middle distance of the Fair Grounds Oaks
seven weeks later.
Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Wicked Deed, 2-1 second
choice in the Tiffany Lass morning line and an impressive winner of her last
two at six furlongs, is another who could possibly stretch out to two turns for
the Fair Grounds Oaks with the right kind of performance this weekend because
she is by middle distance sire Harlan’s Holiday out of a Marfa
mare.
Jockey Jamie Theriot, Fair Grounds’ leading
rider during the 2007-2008 meeting, has been named to handle the reins on Flash
Mash, while Rosie Napravnik, Fair Grounds’ current leading rider, is
listed astride Wicked Deed by trainer Steve Asmussen.
Completing Saturday’s Tiffany Lass field with jockeys and
odds is Richard Davis’s Unbridled Praise, Miguel Mena (4-1);
Majestic Farm’s Lost My Halo, Marlon St. Julien (5-1); Ron McCauley’s Going
to Kukaro, James Graham (8-1); and Eldon Hall’s Miss Polly, Corey
Lanerie (10-1).
DIVINE MUSIC, TRUBS VIE IN SATURDAY’S BLACK GOLD STAKES
Pin Oak Stable’s Divine Music, clearly best in a first-level
allowance sprint at Fair Grounds Jan. 15, and Claiborne Farm and Adele
Dilschneider’s Trubs, who won in that same kind of company going two
turns at Delta Downs last fall, may vie for favoritism when they head a field
of six 3-year-olds in Saturday’s 53rd renewal of the $60,000 Black Gold Stakes
at Fair Grounds, to be run at six furlongs over the main track for the
first time since 1997.
The revised distance as well as the race’s return to the
main track could allow Saturday’s running to serve as a steppingstone for a
late-developing sophomore to be considered as a possibility for the $1
million Grade II Louisiana Derby
as this season’s centerpiece event on March 26.
W. F. Lucas’s Taylor’s Special parlayed a win in the
Black Gold to another victory in the Louisiana Derby in 1984 when the Black
Gold was contested on the main track at three-quarters of a mile.
Divine Music has been installed as the tepid 5-2 choice in
the morning line for Saturday’s Black Gold based on his 1 1/4-length score in
first-level allowance company at last asking, and Trubs, fourth in Delta’s
$250,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes last time but a winner at that same one mile and
30-yard distance last fall at that western Louisiana oval, has been pegged at
3-1 Saturday here.
Miguel Mena is listed to ride Divine Music, trained
by Malcolm Pierce, and Jesse Campbell is slated for the saddle on
the Al Stall Jr.-conditioned Trubs.
Completing the Black Gold field, with jockeys and morning
line odds assigned, is Vinery Stables’ Changing the Rules, Rosie
Napravnik (3-1); Peter Redekop’s Inhisglory, Jamie Theriot (7-2);
Richard Rudolph’s Hydro Power, Kerwin Clark (6-1); and Jose Gonzalez’s Thewayitusedtobe,
Eddie Martin Jr. (12-1).