Field coming together for first Super Derby on turf

Louisiana Downs racing secretary David Heitzmann had a working list of seven or eight possible starters for the $200,000 Super Derby as of Monday morning. The Super Derby, which will be run on the turf for the first time Saturday, anchors a card of seven stakes worth a total of $540,000.

Heitzmann said horses under consideration for the Super Derby include Mr. Misunderstood and Fast Talkin Man, the first two finishers in the local prep, the Prelude. Sonneteer is also possible. He was the runner-up in the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn and won his maiden in his turf debut last out at Del Mar.

Another potential starter is Gorgeous Kitten, who ran second in a pair of Grade 3 grass races this summer at Arlington. The field could also include Culp’s Hill, Durocher, and Flying Honeyspot. Entries for the Super Derby were to be taken on Tuesday.

Heitzmann said the Super Derby will be carded as the 11th race on a 13-race program. The card will have a special first post of 12 p.m. Central. There will be an all-stakes pick four, and it will have a minimum guaranteed pool of $75,000, according to officials with Louisiana Downs. It is scheduled to start with the eighth race and include the Super Derby.

The Super Derby was moved to turf for this year’s running and its distance was shortened to 1 1/16 miles from 1 1/8 miles. On account of the surface switch, the race will not have the Grade 3 status it carried last year, when Texas Chrome won.

The stakes supporting this year’s Super Derby also are on turf and include the $60,000 Sunday Silence and $60,000 Happy Ticket, both 2-yearold stakes at one mile, and the $60,000 Unbridled and the $60,000 River Cities at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds and up. Louisiana Downs also is carding the $50,000 Need for Speed and $50,000 Tellike, five-furlong turf sprints moved from Evangeline Downs.

There is live racing on Wednesday at Louisiana Downs. The track will then be dark Thursday and Friday before resuming live action on Saturday for the Super Derby card. The forecast for the meet’s richest program calls for sunshine with a high of 83 degrees and a 10 percent chance of rain.

Ivan Fallunovalot returns

Ivan Fallunovalot set quick fractions and rolled home by 5 3/4 lengths in a Saturday night allowance race at Remington Park that marked the Grade 3 winner’s first start since March. He covered six furlongs on a fast track in 1:08.28 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.

“He came back real good,” trainer Tom Howard said Monday. “He got a good, clean trip. He just got out there and did his thing.”

Ivan Fallunovalot ($3.40), who had been sidelined with a soft-tissue injury, overtook stakes winner Meme Jo down the backside while running the opening quarter in 21.84 seconds. Ivan Fallunovalot remained in control of the race through a half-mile in 44.06 seconds, and went on to win under Luis Quinonez.

“That ought to set us up for the David M. Vance,” said Howard.

The $150,000 David M. Vance will be run on the Oklahoma Derby Day card Sept. 24 at Remington. Ivan Fallunovalot has won the race the past three years. He is owned by Arkansas resident Lewis Matthews Jr.

Broberg plans for Zia string

Karl Broberg, who leads all trainers in wins in North America, said he plans to have a division of horses at Zia Park, the Hobbs, N.M., which opens its meet Saturday. Broberg also has divisions of his stable at Canterbury, Churchill, Louisiana Downs, Remington Park, and Retama.

Broberg is coming off the training title at Evangeline Downs, which closed Saturday night. He won 86 races from 246 starts and his trainees earned $1 million. He said he was pleased with the meet, but that it did not trump his 2015 season at Evangeline in which he won 98 races from 228 starts for a 43 percent win clip.

“I believe our meet was better than the previous year, but two years ago, I could train until I’m 120 and never be able to have a meet there like I did,” said Broberg, 46.

Broberg on Saturday night won his seventh Evangeline training title since 2011. The leading owner was End Zone Athletics, a stable of which he is the principal owner. The leading rider was Tim Thornton, with 119 wins from 423 starts. Racing in south Louisiana will soon move to Evangeline’s sister track, Delta Downs in Vinton.

◗ The start of the New Mexico State Fair means the live racing schedule will change at The Downs at Albuquerque. The track will race on a daily basis starting Wednesday through the end of the fair on Sept. 17.