Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
The Money Dance seeks lost form
Three months ago The Money Dance would have spun circles around the horses entered against him in Wednesday’s $150,000 Governor’s Stakes at Indiana Grand. That was then, this is now, and the current iteration of The Money Dance holds no obvious edge in the Governor’s, a one-mile, 70-yard dirt race for Indiana-bred 3-yearolds.
The Governor’s (race 6, post time 4:25 Eastern) shares top billing on Wednesday’s card with the $150,000 First Lady (race 7, post time 4:53) for Indiana-bred 3-year-old fillies.
The Money Dance came rapidly to hand early this year at Oaklawn Park for trainer Mike Lauer, winning a twoturn maiden race there April 14 and going on to capture a first-level allowance at Belmont Park on May 3. He hasn’t been the same horse since.
A distant seventh-place finish in the Arlington Classic can be put down to a failed turf experiment, but The Money Dance floundered as the 3-5 favorite in the Hoosier Breeders’ Sophomore Stakes and was beaten 16 lengths July 14 in the Indiana Derby. Wednesday’s race obviously represents a class drop, but maybe it is too late for that.
If not The Money Dance, Lauer has two other chances, Redyornothereicome and In a Fog. In a Fog exits a five-length win in a Indiana-bred dirtroute allowance in which he got a very competitive 80 Beyer Speed Figure. He also got loose on the lead that day and for Wednesday’s race got post 11. Redyornothereicome has more appeal at, perhaps, a longer price. He has shown late spark in all his two-turn starts and moves from a grass stakes back to dirt, which probably is his preferred surface.
Hold On Angel is listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite but is difficult to support at a price anything close to that low, considering he possesses just one superior performance from a 13-start career, and that came when Hold On Angel shook loose on the lead in the Hoosier Breeders’ Sophomore. There appears to be plenty of pace in the Governor’s and handicappers could do worse than focus on closers who are even mildly qualified.
Lauer has four more entrants in the First Lady, which also drew 11 entrants, but he doesn’t have the favorite. That distinction belongs to Piedi Bianchi, who is in from New York for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Piedi Bianchi raced in four Grade 1’s as a 2-year-old, but this, her eighth start, marks her first in a race restricted to Indiana-breds. She should like that. Piedi Bianchi, who campaigned last year in California with trainer Doug O’Neill, scored her only career win in a five-furlong race. In her first start at age 3 – and first for Pletcher – she finished a tepid third in a first-level Belmont allowance race. It’s not a bad guess her connections were prepping for this $150,000 race in that $77,000 comeback, and Piedi Bianchi, who has Tyler Gaffalione named to ride, will be tough to handle at a very short price.
Amy’s Challenge back in action
The filly Amy’s Challenge, who was the fastest 2-year-old of either sex at this time last summer, is set to return from a layoff in the fifth race on Wednesday night at Canterbury Park.
An early-maturing type, Amy’s Challenge got a 91 Beyer winning her career debut on Aug. 6, 2017, by more than 16 lengths and a 92 beating the talented Minnesota-bred Mr. Jagermeister in the Canterbury Juvenile a month later.
But Amy’s Challenge has failed to hit those numbers in four subsequent starts, though she did beat the excellent filly sprinter Mia Mischief in her 3-year-old debut at Oaklawn Park. Amy’s Challenge hasn’t raced since she faded to seventh on May 4 in the Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs, and her connections – Novogratz Racing Stable and trainer Mac Robertson – are trying her on turf for the first time Wednesday. By Artie Schiller, a turf miler, Amy’s Challenge is out of the Jump Start mare, Jump Up, who won all three of her career starts, each on dirt. Amy’s Challenge has worked twice on grass for this race, drilling a half-mile bullet in 46.40 seconds on July 15.