Hyper Piper in ‘natural spot’

Hyper Piper will be looking for her third win of the Delta Downs meet on Friday night, when she starts as one of the top contenders in the $75,000 Owner Appreciation Distaff.

The mile race for fillies and mares who have started at the meet is one of two stakes on the penultimate card of the season. The other is the $80,000 Azalea, which is for 3-year-old fillies bred in Louisiana.

Hyper Piper has made three starts at the meet, with her first a win in an allowance over 7 1/2 furlongs on Nov. 17. She then captured the $65,000 Lookout at a mile on Jan. 5 before finishing second in the $145,000 Premier Night Distaff on Feb. 10. Hyper Piper will once again be invading from her base of Fair Grounds.

“She really seems to run good over that Delta track, the surface over there, and it’s been pretty kind on her, so we’re coming back into it good,” trainer Sam David Jr. said. “She ought to run a good race for us. She’s trained real well since the last one over there. This was a natural spot.”

Hyper Piper is part of a ninehorse field that includes Mr. Al’s Gal, a multiple stakes winner who gets the services of leading rider Diego Saenz; and Vieja Luna, winner of last year’s Owner Appreciation Distaff.

Hyper Piper has shown versatility in her Delta races, closing from well off the pace in the allowance and racing close to the lead in the Lookout and when beaten two lengths by the late-running Pacific Pink in the Premier Night Distaff.

“We had a hard time holding her off,” David said. “We kind of laid a little closer than normal, got by Mr. Al’s Gal, and then there comes Pacific Pink and runs us down. We’re real proud of [Hyper Piper]. It was a game effort. We didn’t want to let anybody steal the race. This race, it looks like it will set up good for her pace-wise.”

Tim Thornton has the mount on Hyper Piper, a daughter of Old Fashioned who races for her breeders, John Duvieilh and Keith and Earl Hernandez.

The Azalea, a 6 1/2-furlong race run around two turns, is for nonwinners of a stakes. The likely favorite is Sarah’s Holy Belle, who has run second in a trio of stakes, her most recent the $120,000 Premier Night Starlet on Feb. 10 at Delta.

Tough to Bee, Remington start

Tough to Bee, dead-heat winner of last year’s Grade 1, $1 million Ruidoso Derby for Quarter Horses, will launch his 4-year-old season Friday night at Remington Park in the Grade 2, $50,000 Eastex. The Eastex is one of two stakes on the first card of the meet, which also includes the $65,000 Mighty Deck Three. The 50-date season runs through June 2.

The Eastex is the first start since October for Tough to Bee. He also won the $100,000 First Down Dash last year at Ruidoso over champion Imperial Eagle.

The Mighty Deck Three drew Ajs High, third-place finisher in the Grade 1 Challenge Championship at Prairie Meadows.

Remington will put on 37 stakes worth a total of $5.3 million. The Grade 1, $1 million Heritage Place Futurity is the richest race of the meet and one of eight stakes to be run June 2. Trials will be held May 11-12.

The Grade 3, $450,000 Oklahoma Futurity will be run March 24. The trials will be Saturday on a card that has a special first post of 4 p.m. Central. The $900,000 Remington Park Futurity is April 21, with trials set for April 6 and 7.

The Grade 1, $250,000 Remington Park Championship, an invitational for 3-yearolds and up, is June 2.

Direct Dial to Sam Houston

Direct Dial, who ran a close third in last month’s $125,000 Gazebo at Oaklawn, is slated to make his next start in the $65,000 Jim’s Orbit division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston, trainer Steve Asmussen said. The sixfurlong race for 3-year-olds by nominated stallions runs on the final night of the meet, March 17.

Direct Dial won a division of the Texas Stallion Stakes in November at Retama Park. Earlier in his career, he ran second in the $150,000 Tremont at Belmont Park. Direct Dial races for his breeder, Will Farish.

◗ Thoroughbreds nearing retirement from racing will be showcased before prospective buyers Saturday morning at Sam Houston Race Park. The horses will be housed in the paddock area and any sales will be private transactions between parties.

The event, known as the Roses to Ribbons Old Fashioned Horse Fair, is held toward the end of each Thoroughbred meet run in Texas.

◗ Stall applications for the upcoming Louisiana Downs meet are due Saturday. The 84-date meet runs from May 5 through Sept. 26.

COADY PHOTOGRAPHY Hyper Piper wins the Lookout at Delta in January. She returns for the Owner Appreciation.