Ride On Curlin Continues to Impress in Morning Workouts

Daniel Dougherty’s Ride On Curlin continues to impress in the mornings since his fifth-place finish in the $60,000 Thanksgiving Handicap on Nov. 26. The Classic-placed son of Curlin has taken an old-school route in the mornings, working a sharp seven furlongs on Dec. 5 in 1:26.40 and then working a mile one week later on Dec. 12 in 1:41.80 for trainer Billy Gowan – two distances rarely breezed in the modern era of training.

“We were trying to play catch-up a little bit and I thought he needed more works,” Gowan explained. “To me, to run in a stakes, you have to be fit and I wanted to make sure he had plenty of air in him. A big stable you can work in company but I don’t have that luxury. Once he gets race-fit you don’t have to drill on him as hard, obviously.

“He came out of that work real good,” Gowan continued. “He looks fitter and he’s starting to act like he did when he was three. Honestly his legs haven’t looked this good since that season and I have to give a lot of credit to the track here at Fair Grounds. It’s really helped him and he hasn’t missed a day of training. Last year he missed training because he couldn't go to the (Oaklawn) racetrack after coming back from winning that sprint and before his route race.”

Ride On Curlin has drawn post three in the $60,000 Tenacious Stakes on Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds, part of a six-stakes Santa Super Saturday at the New Orleans oval. The 4-year-old colt is a three-time winner and earner of $781,487 from 17 starts, but is still looking for his first stakes victory, despite a record that includes runner-up finishes in last year’s Grade I $1,500,000 Preakness Stakes and Grade I $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby.

“I thought he ran huge in the Thanksgiving Handicap,” Gowan explained. “He was finishing down the lane and I was impressed. He was beaten five lengths and was 12 or 13 behind earlier and those were good horses. I wanted to see him close down the lane and wasn’t expecting a win.

“I think the horse deserves a stakes win,” he continued. “As much much as he’s put out and accomplished, he ought to be a stakes winner. I believe if he keeps marching and training this way, he will.”

DOLPHUS VS. TOM’S READY IN FRIDAY FEATURE

Two promising, high-profile juveniles highlight Friday’s feature at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The fourth race, a mile and 70-yard first-level allowance for 2-year-olds, has a post time of 6:45 p.m. as part of Fair Grounds’ second edition of Starlight Racing this season. The competitive event has drawn a field that includes Dede McGehee’s homebred Dolphus – a half-brother to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra – as well as Dallas Stewart trainee Tom’s Ready, a stakes-placed colt owned by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson and wife Gayle who was thought of so highly that he was entered in a Grade I as a maiden and subsequently pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup off just a maiden victory.

Dolphus, a son of Lookin at Lucky, hails from the barn of Joe Sharp and exits a victory on debut going six furlongs on Nov. 21 at Fair Grounds. Said victory, though it did not produce huge speed figures, was encouraging for his connections. Bred to relish two turns, the chestnut colt appeared to only engage the race in the late stage, yet still proved victorious by three-quarters of a length. Brian Hernandez, Jr., who was aboard that day, has the return mount when the pair breaks from post five in a the eight-horse field.

Tom’s Ready exits an eighth-place finish in the Grade II $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs over a sloppy and sealed track. The son of More Than Ready was bumped soundly at the beginning and came up empty late, but has shown considerable talent in races prior. Two back, in the one-mile $83,800 Street Sense Stakes over a fast Churchill Downs main track, he was game in defeat when second to Benson-owned Mo Tom, while gaining on him with every stride. Robby Albarado picks up the mount from the disadvantageous outside post eight.

Others of intrigue in the first two-turn open juvenile race for winners this season are Mark Breen’s minor stakes winner Pinnacle Peak (Florent Geroux, post two), from the barn of leading trainer Mike Stidham, and Rigney Racing’s Moon Gate Warrior, a Phil Bauer-trained son of champion Bernardini and multiple stakes winner J Z Warrior who won last out going a mile at Churchill Downs.

WORK TAB

Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider’s homebred multiple graded stakes-winning gelding Departing worked a half-mile in a sharp 49.20 for trainer Al Stall, Jr. The multi-surface specialist was last seen finishing second at 7-5 odds in the Listed $250,000 Delta Mile at Delta Downs on Nov. 21.

Dede McGehee’s high-profile juvenile Dolphus, a half-brother to Rachel Alexandra, worked a half-mile in 50.80 for trainer Joe Sharp in preparation for his second race and first attempt against fellow winners on Friday evening.

Promising juvenile D. Shifflett, owned by Haynes Stables et al., worked a half-mile in 51.20 for trainer Mike Stidham in preparation for his stakes debut in next Saturday’s $50,000 Sugar Bowl. The gelded son of Valid Expectations has not raced since a second-place effort to subsequent stakes winner Richie the Bull at Keeneland on Oct. 8.

Stakes-winning Steve Margolis trainee Agent Di Nozzo returned to the work tab for the first time since a fifth-place finish in the Listed $250,000 Delta Mile on Nov. 21, going a half-mile in 49.60 for owners Robert and Lawana Low.

Unraced juvenile filly Lady Digger once again burned up the track, working her second bullet in her last three works for trainer Merrill Scherer. The Louisiana-bred daughter of the swift Yankee Gentleman and graded stakes-winning mare Desert Digger shot out a bullet from the gate on Sunday morning, going a half-mile in 48.60 and besting 125 other workers at the distance.

Source: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots