Istanford Ready to Rumble in Bayou
Multiple graded stakes winner and morning line favorite Istanford kicks off her 4-year-old campaign in the $60,000 Bayou Stakes on Saturday’s stellar card. The front-running daughter of Istan will start from post four and be reunited with Rafael Bejarano, with whom she teamed to win two stakes at Del Mar last summer – including the Grade II $200,000 San Clemente Handicap. She has not been seen since finishing up the track in the Grade I $400,000 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 4.
“Basically we’re ready to go and she’s ready to run,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “With a filly like that you hate running in a tough race for $60,000 – but that’s how it is sometimes. She’s doing very well and had a nice freshening after a tough campaign last year.”
The Florida-bred dark bay filly has put in a series of impressive works since returning to training, including three bullets. Her last work, on Feb. 14, was an easy five-eighths in 1:01.80. She has been assigned odds of 5-2 for owners Ike and Dawn Thrash and Sam and Janet Alley.
Stidham also trains Twin Creeks Racing Stable’s 7-2 second choice Notte d’Oro, as well as Pin Oak Stable’s 12-1 longshot Hung the Moon. Both fillies exit good showings in the $60,000 Marie G. Krantz Memorial on Jan. 17, in which they finished first and third, respectively.
“Both horses ran well in the last race and neither have gone backwards since,” Stidham said. “I’m looking for a good performance from them. May the best horse win and hopefully it will be one of mine.”
Source: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots