Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Wonder Gadot might face boys
Trainer Mark Casse will have two fillies, Heavenly Love and Wonder Gadot, in New Orleans for the first 3-year-old dirt-route stakes of the Fair Grounds season on Jan. 13, but both might not run in the same race.
Heavenly Love, as has been the plan for several weeks now, will race against fillies in the Silverbulletday Stakes, but Wonder Gadot could step outside her own sex to face males in the Lecomte Stakes, Casse said.
Casse trains several talented fillies about to turn 3 and is seeking separate paths for them, if possible. He said that after conversing with owner Gary Barber, the decision was made to send Wonder Gadot from Florida to New Orleans to race next month.
Wonder Gadot showed high-level ability starting her career on turf at Woodbine this summer, won the Mazarine Stakes on Woobine’s allweather surface by six lengths, was a troubled sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and came back to win the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes on Dec. 2 at Aqueduct.
Heavenly Love, meanwhile, will try to bounce back from a disappointing showing in the BC Juvenile Fillies, where she barely lifted a hoof while beaten 25 lengths a month after winning the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland. Heavenly Love went to Florida following the Breeders’ Cup, but has been based with Casse’s Fair Grounds string for a couple weeks and has worked twice at Fair Grounds.
Casse said he also plans to send Monster Bea to Fair Grounds for the Colonel Bradley Stakes on the Lecomte and Silverbulletday card.
Onward, upward for Valadorna
Valadorna knocked out the first stakes win of her career Tuesday at Fair Grounds in the $50,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes.
“Now we can think about taking on the big girls,” trainer Mark Casse said.
Valadorna finished second in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but her early-season 3-year-old campaign did not go far, with Valadorna going to the sidelines in early spring and only returning to action in October at Keeneland. She finished second in that comeback start, but then won a Fair Grounds allowance race and was 3 1/2 lengths best in the Tiffany Lass. Her one mile and 70-yard time of 1:42.11 produced a career-best 88 Beyer Speed Figure.
“She was coming back a little quick, but that never worries me much,” Casse said. “She did everything professionally. The nice part now is I think her confidence is up.”
Fair Grounds lacks a twoturn dirt stakes for upper-division older females, and there basically are two paths Casse and owner Stonestreet Stables could take with Valadorna: Go to the Grade 2, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 29 with an eye on the Grade 1 Apple Blossom in April at Oaklawn, or look to California, where Santa Anita has a strong divisional series culminating with the Grade 1 Santa Margarita on March 17.
“We’ll leave all options open for now,” Casse said.
Forever Unbridled on hold
Forever Unbridled, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner last month at Del Mar, remains in training at Fair Grounds, but no plans – either for retirement or racing – have yet been made for the 5-year-old mare, trainer Dallas Stewart said.
Stewart and owner Charles Fipke have Seeking the Soul for the Pegasus World Cup next month at Gulfstream, a race in which Fipke originally said he would start Forever Unbridled. Forever Unbridled worked Dec. 11 at Fair Grounds but has not breezed since.
◗ Jockey Colby Hernandez broke his collarbone in a spill Dec. 23 and is out of action. After Tuesday’s racing, Hernandez still was tied for second in the Fair Grounds jockey standings with 18 winners, though it took Hernandez 121 mounts to amass that win total while Shaun Bridgmohan got there after 64 rides. Miguel Mena continues to top the standings with 21 wins through Dec. 26.
◗ Francisco Torres, who recently retired following a decades-long career as a jockey, has begun working as a jockey’s agent at Fair Grounds. Torres is booking mounts for Samy Camacho Jr., a newcomer to the circuit.
◗ Trainer Larry Jones has two horses under consideration for the Jan. 13 Lecomte, Kowboy Karma and Believe in Royalty, according to Fair Grounds publicity.