Thirtyfirststreet Seeks Firm Footing at SA

Thirtyfirststreet seeks his first win for trainer Peter Eurton when the 5-year-old Good Journey horse runs in Saturday’s $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for older horses scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Trained by Doug O’Neill in his first 18 races, Thirtyfirststreet is zero for five for Eurton.

“If the course stays firm or the track is fast, I think he might like that,” Eurton said. “He tends to love turf now. He loves firm going that he can skip across. He didn’t like the track in New Mexico (Zia Park) at all, (fading to eighth in a nine-furlong stake there on the main track in his last start, on Dec. 2).

“Then he got sick, so that could have had a lot to do with it. He’s not a horse with a great turn of foot. He’s kind of a grinder. He keeps coming. His race two races back, he gave up a lot of ground from the three-eighths pole to the eighth pole, then was beaten a length for the whole thing against some nice horses.”

The field for the Crystal Water: Jules Journey, David Flores, 8-1; Swift Eagle, Garrett Gomez, 8-1; Big Bane Theory, Julien Leparoux, 5-2; Huntsville, Juan Hernandez, 12-1; Circle the Moon, Alonso Quinonez, 5-1; John Scott, Martin Garcia, 2-1; Stoney Fleece, Joe Talamo, 6-1; and Thirtyfirststreet, Rafael Bejarano, 6-1.