Mystery Train Pulls Up for New Orleans 'Cap

Jed Cohen’s two-time Group I-winning Argentina-bred Mystery Train has arrived for his second tilt at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots for trainer Darrell Vienna. Expected to be entered in the Grade II $400,000 New Orleans Handicap, the son of Not For Sale returned to form after three failed American attempts when a game second after setting a strong pace in the Grade III $125,000 Mineshaft Handicap on Feb. 21 – the local prep for the New Orleans. 

INDYCOTT PROBABLE FOR NEW ORLEANS HANDICAP

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots’ leading owner Maggi Moss will try to end the meet on a high note on Saturday, Mar. 28, as she has listed recent acquisition Indycott as probable for the Grade II $400,000 New Orleans Handicap. Claimed two races back by trainer Tom Amoss for the multiple title-holding owner, the 5-year-old gelded son of A. P. Indy did not gather any moss for Moss, as he rolled back two weeks later to win a second-level allowance by an easy 1¾ lengths at the New Orleans oval.

“We’re leaning toward running,” Moss said. “It’s up to Tom. He’s bred to be a good horse and is a nice, big animal. We’ll do what’s right by the horse.”

Out of multiple stakes-placed Seeking the Gold mare Seeking the Heart, Indycott is a genetic three-quarter brother to stallion Olmodavor, who was second in the 2003 New Orleans Handicap within a career that earned him two graded stakes victories and $706,540 in purses. Indycott worked an easy half-mile at Fair Grounds in :50.40 on Sunday morning.

CALL ME GEORGE WORKS, HEADED TO NEW ORLEANS HANDICAP
Clint Joiner, Matthew Bond and Jim Curry’s graded stakes-placed Call Me George will step up once again to the Grade II level when he starts on Saturday, Mar. 28, for trainer Grant Forster in the $400,000 New Orleans Handicap. Last out, in his 5-year-old debut, the dark bay charge was a game third in the same conditioned allowance heat that is expected to produce fellow New Orleans starter Afford (winner).

“We’re planning to run,” Forster said. “He just worked an easy five-eighths (Sunday morning) in 1:04 and change. He’s not a great workhorse. I expect a big run from him on Saturday. He was a work or two short for his last race, but with those types of allowance races, you have to run when you can. I think he’s pretty close to where he was last fall. We gave him a little break and he’s a horse I think will get better and be at his best in his 5-year-old season. Hopefully he’ll be rolling at the end.”

Call Me George has progressed nicely since being claimed by Forster for $62,500 at Churchill Downs last May. In seven starts for the conditioner, he has one win and three thirds, including a charging effort in the Grade II $250,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup, beaten 2 ¾ lengths by fellow New Orleans probable Red Rifle to close out his 4-year-old season on Nov. 29.

Source: Fair Grounds Barn Notes