Mr. Misunderstood puts streak on the line in Fair Grounds Handicap

Staton Flurry’s Mr. Misunderstood will look to keep two good things going in Saturday’s Gr. III $150,000 Fair Grounds Handicap. The 4-year-old son of Archarcharch will be going for a sixth consecutive stakes victory as well as a continuous perfect record on grass when he emerges from post six at odds of 3-1 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth event at Fair Grounds.

In eight starts on turf, Mr. Misunderstood has found the winner’s circle every time. His octet of grass triumphs have taken place over four different surfaces. He broke his maiden second time out over the lawn at Indiana Grand Race Course, and two starts later gave jockey Florent Geroux his 1,000th career victory when racing for a $30,000 tag over the Stall-Wilson Turf Course in December 2016. He stepped up in class for his next start to win an allowance optional claiming event over the Fair Grounds lawn. Following a seventh-place effort in the Gr. III Illinois Derby, Mr. Misunderstood began his current winning streak when he won a pair of stakes events over the Louisiana Downs grass – the Super Derby Prelude on Aug. 5 and the Super Derby on Sept. 9. He then shipped to his base at Churchill Downs where he scored another duo of stakes wins in the Gr. III Jefferson Cup on Sept. 20 and the Commonwealth Turf Stakes on Nov. 11. Last time out, he won his fifth straight race in the Fair Grounds’ Woodchopper Stakes on Dec. 30. 

Mr. Misunderstood is trained by Brad Cox who also trains High Noon Rider (post nine, Shaun Bridgmohan, 6-1) and won the 2015-16 runnings of the Fair Grounds Handicap with Chocolate Ride. 

“(Mr. Misunderstood) is training really well,” Cox said. “His last two works have been fantastic and he had a great work (Saturday) morning. He couldn’t be doing any better. He’s definitely stepping up a little bit; he hasn’t faced the talent or the depth that he’s going to face on Saturday. The first time against older horses tend to be deeper water and this will be the deepest water that he’s been in. He looks amazing, he’s happy and he’s doing great mentally and physically.”

Other contenders in the field include Synchrony, who has not raced since last May where he was second in Monmouth Park’s Gr. III Red Bank Stakes. Owned by Pink Oak Stable and trained by Mike Stidham, the son of Tapit is out of eight-time stakes winning broodmare Brownie Points. Synchrony began his career under the care of trainer Donnie Von Hemel, where he raced on the main track and was third behind Collected in the Gr. III Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. He transferred over to Stidham’s barn at the beginning of last year where he began running on the turf and has never been worse than second in three starts on grass. He defeated 2016 Queen Plate winner Sir Dudley Digges in his turf debut over the local going and ran second in his two following performances – the Red Bank and the Henry Clark Stakes at Laurel Park, where he was a half-length behind eventual Gr. I Manhattan Handicap winner Ascend. Synchrony will be guided by jockey Joe Bravo and will break from the eight hole at 9-2 odds.

Michael M. Hui’s Galton (post three, Javier Castellano, 5-1) has been very consistent, even when stepping up against stakes company. The 7-year-old son of Offlee Wild will be looking for his first stakes win since the Frontier Utilities Turf Sprint Stakes at Sam Houston back in 2016. Trained by Mike Maker, he enters the race off of a pair of runner-up finishes against stakes company. In December, he was beaten three-quarters of a length behind Shakhimat in the Gr. III Tropical Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Most recently, he finished a half-length behind Tower of Texas in the Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes over the Stall-Wilson Turf Course. Galton boasts career earnings of $501,990 and in 39 career starts has made 11 trips to the winner’s circle, which is more than any other horse in the Fair Grounds Handicap field. None of those 11 wins have taken place at the Fair Grounds, however. In eight starts over the Stall-Wilson Turf Course, he is still searching for his first local victory. Nevertheless, he has run second five of his eight Fair Grounds starts with one third-place finish. Mike Maker won last year’s edition of the Fair Grounds Handicap with Enterprising.

Rounding out the field are Thatcher Street (post one, Brian Hernandez, Jr., 12-1), Zulu Alpha (post two, Miguel Mena, 20-1), One Mean Man (post four, Robby Albarado, 12-1), Granny’s Kitten (post five, Julien Leparoux, 8-1), Applicator (post seven, Jack Gilligan, 12-1) Tiz A Slam (post ten, Corey Lanerie, 20-1), Great Wide Open (Ire.) (post 11, Adam Beschizza, 20-1), Catcho En Die (Arg.) (post 12, John Velazquez, 8-1).