Welder poised for stakes repeat

Start with the most general assertion: Welder is a pretty darn good sprinter. Pit the gelding against fellow Oklahoma-breds, and he looks even better. And facing Oklahomabreds going six furlongs at Will Rogers Downs? Forget about it.

Welder has won all four of his races at Will Rogers, and he’ll be overwhelmingly favored to run that string to five in a row in the $55,000 TRAO Sprint Stakes on Tuesday. The TRAO Sprint (race 5, post time 2:53 p.m. Central) is co-featured on the card with the $55,000 Will Rogers Handicap, a route race for 3-year-old Okie-breds (race 9, 4:38).

The TRAO Sprint is restricted to horses ages 3 and older, and Welder won it as a 3-year-old last year by more than two lengths. He is a better horse now, too. By the fairly obscure stallion The Visualiser, Welder is trained for Ra-Max Farms by Theresa Luneack, and not only has he compiled a 7-2-1 record from 11 starts, Welder is working on a three-race winning streak.

Off from June through September, Welder did not appear at his very best when returning to the races early last fall, but he won well in his season finale in November and has come out this year with two definitive victories at Will Rogers, most recently beating the accomplished sprinter Bayerd in the $51,000 Highland Ice. That six-furlong race was for open competition, and Welder is 3-5 on the morning line to beat Oklahoma-breds on Tuesday.

Perfect to Please and Johnny Whip, the second- and thirdplace finishers in this race last year, are back for more Tuesday. What they are likely to get is more minor awards behind Welder.

Curmit faces easier

A drop from open company to Oklahoma-bred competition didn’t quite work for Curmit last fall, but if his Oaklawn Park form carries over to Will Rogers on Tuesday, he appears to be the most likely winner of the Will Rogers Handicap.

A Curlin colt trained by Steve Asmussen, Curmit was a nonfactor while making his career debut in an open maiden race at Churchill Downs last Nov. 13. He ran back just five days later at Remington Park and finished a respectable fourth in the $75,000 Don McNeill for Oklahoma-breds while improving at least moderately from his first race.

More improvement has been seen from Curmit at age 3. In two open, two-turn maiden races at Oaklawn this month, Curmit finished a close third and a close fifth, and merely running back to those performances Tuesday might be enough to land Curmit his first win.

Makin the Dough finished third in the McNeil last fall after leading at the stretch call and was second in a recent Oklahoma-bred two-turn allowance at Will Rogers, again losing ground in deep stretch. Makin the Dough can get a mile under the right circumstances, but going a mile and 70 yards Tuesday against solid competition could butt up against his limitations.

Hunters Humor, who makes his first start for trainer Karl Broberg, comes off consecutive wins at Delta Downs, but he never has raced over a true route of ground, did not fare well in Oklahoma-bred races last year, and is somewhat strangely listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the Will Rogers. If that price somehow holds, it makes Curmit an even more attractive proposition.