Clearly Now, Ride On Curlin Top Thanksgiving Handicap
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots will continue the longstanding tradition of thoroughbred racing on the fall holiday with a special ten-race card scheduled for Thursday, November 26, with a first post of 11:00 a.m.
Various dining options were made available throughout the facility, and both the Clubhouse and Black Gold Room have sold out. Racing fans will still be able to enjoy traditional Thanksgiving fare in the Pan Zareta Room on the second floor on the East side of the building from 11:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The buffet is $36 per person plus tax, and children 12 and under may enjoy the buffet for $15 plus tax.
Highlighting the racing action will be the 90th running of the Thanksgiving Handicap.
Three-time graded stakes winner Clearly Now and classic-placed Ride on Curlin top another competitive renewal of the Thanksgiving Handicap, carded as the ninth of ten races on the Thanksgiving Day card.
Clearly Now, recently privately purchased by Brittlyn Stable, will make his first start for trainer Ron Faucheux in the $60,000 six-furlong dash after winning a Saratoga allowance last out on Sept. 3 for previous conditioner Brian Lynch. The son of Horse Greeley won for the first time since taking the Grade III $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship in 2014 when easily overpowering said 6½-furlong event. Otherwise, his top 2015 performance was a game second in this year’s Belmont Sprint Championship behind Private Zone.
Given top weight of 122 pounds, the dark bay 5-year-old horse will be giving away between five and nine pounds to his seven rivals when he breaks from the rail under veteran Jose Valdivia, Jr. Now under the banner of New Orleans favorites Brittlyn and Faucheux, Clearly Now will attempt to give them their second Thanksgiving Handicap victory in three years after Gantry’s victory in 2013.
Ride on Curlin, second in the 2014 Preakness Stakes behind California Chrome, has made only four starts since competing in all three legs of the 2014 Triple Crown. One of those was a victory 10 months ago at the Thanksgiving’s distance when rallying impressively in an Oaklawn allowance. Francisco Torres picks up the mount from post four on the comebacking 4-year-old colt.
Multiple stakes winners Control Stake and Nates Mineshaft – third in last year’s edition – enter this year’s renewal in good form. The latter, trained by Anne Smith for Windy Hill Farm, was third beaten a length last out in the $100,000 Lafayette Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 29. Florent Geroux, who was aboard for the 8-year-old’s top performances of 2015 – a game second in the Grade II $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes behind Private Zone – returns to the saddle from post seven.
Control Stake, a winner two starts back for trainer Tom Amoss and owner Maggi Moss at Keeneland at this distance, has two stakes victories to his credit in 2015. A runaway victor of his Fair Grounds meet debut around this time last year, he returns to a surface he likes and gets the services of Colby Hernandez from post five in his second start for Moss since being privately purchased from Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence.
The field for the 90th running of the Thanksgiving Handicap is completed by Rugged (Patrick Valenzuela, post two), Solar Charge (Richard Eramia, post three), Officer Griffin (Emmanuel Esquivel, post six) and Speightsong (Leandro Goncalves, post eight).
Source: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots