Shake Some Action fine on turf or dirt

In New Orleans, where a swath of rain-laden clouds is so often liable to drift north off the Gulf of Mexico, horsemen can spend a lot of time checking the weather forecast. This applies particularly to people trying to run turf horses at Fair Grounds.

For Shake Some Action, set to race for the first time since May 23 in the featured eighth race Friday, weather isn’t a great a concern. Shake Some Action won his maiden racing over the Fair Grounds grass course in January 2020 and came back the next month to capture a first-level allowance race on dirt. That victory earned him a start in the Louisiana Derby, where he had a less-than-ideal journey and finished sixth of 14. Trainer Brad Cox ran him in the Matt Winn Stakes on May 23, and Shake Some Action finished seventh. Shake Some Action hasn’t started since.

Shake Some Action is one of 10 entrants in the featured eighth, which is carded for about 1 1/16 miles on turf and open to second-level allowance horses or $40,000 claimers. Extraordinary and Pit Boss are entered for the main track only, and the forecast, slightly unsettled, suggests this race will remain on grass.

Shake Some Action showed up on an official work tab in late January at Keeneland and has logged a solid series of drills since being shipped to Fair

Grounds. He fits the spot for a very capable layoff barn but might not offer much value.

Spanish Kingdom should get betting support, deservedly so, breaking from the rail in his first start since a good fourthplace finish Dec. 26 in the Woodchopper Stakes, a 3-yearold-restricted turf race won by Pixelate, who returned with a creditable fifth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf. The Joe Sharp-trained Spanish Kingdom won a first-level turf allowance last fall at Keeneland and has ample form to validate his Woodchopper run.

In fact, some sort of case could be made for the other six horses entered to run on turf, and the Friday feature, as with many grass races, could come down to racing luck.

Race 6 on Friday is a turf sprint for Louisiana-bred fillies and mares that has some highend allowance conditions and a $35,000 claiming option. Mr. Al’s Gal figures to be favored if the race stays on turf, with Fame Feather taking plenty of action, but Our Lost Love is the selection to win. Our Lost Love didn’t run to her best form in a pair of Delta Downs stakes races this winter, but in limited turf starts has shown an affinity for the surface. She has ample early speed but just enough rateability to be held off an intemperate pace if such a dynamic arises.