Suntracer Tackles Better Rivals in Bradley

Team Block’s Suntracer, hero of Fair Grounds’ $74,000 Woodchopper Stakes Nov. 25, and Chester Miller and Patrick Dupuy’s Strike Impact, runner-up in the local oval’s $72,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial Dec. 26, face off against each other and six others in Saturday’s Grade III Col. E. R. Bradley Handicap at about 1 1/16-miles as first leg of Fair Grounds’ three-race series for older horses over the local Stall-Wilson turf course.

That grass series continues with the Grade III Fair Grounds Handicap on Feb. 25 and concludes with the Grade II Mervin Muniz Memorial Handicap on Louisiana Derby Day April 1.

Suntracer will shoulder the top impost of 118 pounds in the Col. Bradley, most of which will be made up by defending jockey champion and current leading rider Rosie Napravnik, while second high weight Strike Impact gets 117 including Fair Grounds’ seven-time jockey champion Robby Albarado. Suntracer has been pegged as the 3-1 early choice in the Col. Bradley, while Strike Impact is slated as the 4-1 second choice.

Completing the Col. Bradley Handicap field, with respective jockeys and weights assigned, is:  T & S Racing’s Mr. Vegas, Miguel Mena (116); Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Lonesome Street, James Graham (115); Columbine Stable’s Glenwood Canyon, Jamie Theriot (114); David Holloway Racing’s Dubious Miss, Corey Lanerie (113); Charles Fletcher’s Baltimore Bob, Richard Eramia (113); and Danny Keene’s Heavenville, Jermaine Bridgmohan (112).