‘Cowboy’ tries to earn his spurs

Fonner Park this spring has generated more national attention that it ever dreamed of receiving through the mandatory payout of its late pick five, a jackpot-style bet that under normal rules pays off only if there is a single winning ticket on the sequence. But Fonner also has a standard early pick five spanning the first five contests on a card, and Tuesday’s includes the only nonclaiming race of the day.

That’s race 2, a Nebraskabred nonwinners-of-two allowance race carded for six furlongs around two turns. The key question in this race is how to handle Want to Be a Cowboy. The 4-year-old gelding made his career debut March 6 at Fonner, dashing straight to the front and drawing off in a Nebraskabred maiden special weight race to win by 6 1/2 lengths. Two concerns arise: Want to Be a Cowboy didn’t race or post a work following that start until April 29, and on Tuesday he’ll try to perform as well in a twoturn, six-furlong start as he did busting around one bend going a half-mile.

There was another race at this class level and distance on April 8 that Want to Be a Cowboy didn’t contest, and the quiet period following a sharp victory from a horse that took so long to race at all suggests not leaning too heavily on Want to Be a Cowboy in the early pick five – if you lean on him at all.

Want to Be a Cowboy beat six horses in his race, among them Creed’s Revenge, but Creed’s Revenge seems an equally plausible winner of Tuesday’s second race. Creed’s Revenge stretched out to six furlongs March 25 and won a Nebraskabred maiden special by more than six lengths, and post 1 did him no favors April 8 when he tried this class level. Either of the two horses that finished in front of him that day, Name the Price and Ye Be Judged, would be favored in Tuesday’s race.

The other horse to strongly consider is Mr. Big Shot, a distant second to Ye Be Judged in the $30,000 Fonner Park Special on April 20. Fonner Park gives 3-year-olds a puny three-pound weight break facing older horses, which Mr. Big Shot hasn’t done in five starts.

Prince Olaf stands a strong chance of winning race 4 at a fair price. Prince Olaf is a classdropper with speed, an appealing combination, and starts in a $5,000 maiden claimer after holding his own for twice the price in three Fonner starts this meet.

Race 5, final leg of the early pick five, is a $10,000 maiden claimer that came up soft for the class level. Obvi, who is not all that obvious a win contender, could lead from start to finish if he breaks alertly from post 1.