Surprising Li’l Tootsie stays at two turns in Grade 2 Oaks

You can win the Kentucky Oaks with a filly ultimately cut out to be a sprinter. Owner Joel Politi and trainer Tom Amoss know firsthand.

In 2019, Serengeti Empress scored a 13-1 Kentucky Oaks upset for them. Later that year she raced competitively in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and the following spring romped over a sloppy track in the two-turn Azeri, but Serengeti Empress’s peak post-Oaks performances came around one turn – a win in the Grade 1 Ballerina and a second last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The Filly and Mare Sprint was Nov. 7 and three weeks later Politi and Amoss debuted a 2-year-old filly named Li’l Tootsie in a Fair Grounds maiden sprint. Amoss said after the race he expected Li’l Tootsie to win, but she broke somewhat flat-footed and in an encouraging performance finished second.

In her second start, Jan. 16, she validated Amoss’s confidence with a four-length maiden sprint win over the fast filly Euphoric, who won a Feb. 13 maiden race by more than 10 lengths. The day before, Amoss, with less confidence, tried Li’l Tootsie in a two-turn race against allowance foes. Amoss wondered if a second turn would hit his filly in the head. Instead, Li’l Tootsie rallied up the rail and won decisively.

Maybe Li’l Tootsie turns out better sprinting than routing, but she’s earned a start Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks, where she faces Clairiere and Travel Column, who have traded decisions in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes last month and the Golden Rod Stakes last fall.

Politi and Amoss hope for a much happier Fair Grounds Oaks than the 2019 renewal in which Serengeti Empress bled through Lasix and was eased. Serengeti Empress already had shown form troughs at age 2, while Li’l Tootsie so far has been solid. Amoss has worked her only twice since the allowance win by design since the filly, by Tapiture, is made on the light side.

“Everything has gone to plan since her last race,” Amoss said. “I did have a lot of skepticism about her stretching out, mainly based on her pedigree,”

Li’l Tootsie is out of Informative Style, a sprinter during her racing career and a daughter of the sprinter Dayjur. Li’l Tootsie outran her bloodlines last month, and if she does it again Saturday, it’s on to the Kentucky Oaks.

Euphoric favored to repeat

A first-level allowance for 3-year-old fillies and a classy turf sprint for older fillies and mares headline a ninerace program Friday at Fair Grounds.

Euphoric rides high into race 5, a six-furlong sprint open to 3-year-old fillies who never have won two races and $50,000 claimers. Trained by Bernie Flint, Euphoric showed modest form through her first five starts before finishing a seriously troubled second to Li’l Tootsie on Jan. 16, while racing on Lasix for the first time in a dirt sprint. On Feb. 13, running over a surface that flattered front-runners early on the program, Euphoric shot to the lead from post 1 and blasted out of the maiden ranks with a 10-length victory, earning an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

Friday, she has the rail again under James Graham and with a decent break figures to make the lead and run her five rivals off their feet at a very short price.

Race 6, carded at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf and also sex-restricted, has multiple high-end allowance conditions and an $80,000 claiming option. In Good Spirits and Yes It’s Ginger exit wins over second-level allowance rivals and $40,000 claimers, but they’re running into an established stakes filly, Change of Control. Trained by Michelle Lovell, Change of Control faced males at Sam Houston last out, and while she has lost six in a row, Change of Control won the last three times she started in allowance races.

Committed can make amends

David Carroll, former Irish jockey, former exercise rider for Easy Goer, former trainer, current assistant trainer to Mark Casse, has crossed to the other side of the River 50 yet still persists in galloping horses most mornings. This can be risky for an older gentleman, and there was Carroll last weekend limping on an ankle the size of a grapefruit and the color of a grape.

This was no galloping mishap: Carroll had been riding a stable pony alongside a maiden named Committed when the horse kicked and hit human bone. Radiographs were negative, Carroll planned to resume galloping this weekend, and Committed can make amends for his mischief in race 6 on Saturday.

The turf route in which he’s entered is one of four open maidens on the card, and as has been the case all winter in New Orleans, there are promising nonwinners racing. One of Committed’s opponents is Hidden Enemy, a colt overdue to clear the maiden ranks. Hidden Enemy is by Galileo out of Acoma, one of the best horses Carroll trained. Also in this turf route is first-time starter Snow House, a Brad Cox-trained Juddmonte Farms homebred by Twirling Candy out of Structure. Connections report the horse has talent, but two turns is an uncertain variable.

In race 7, the Cox barn has first-time starter Speightharmony, a Bridlewood Farm homebred by Speightstown and the first foal to race out of Leslie’s Harmony. Leslie’s Harmony was winless in two starts but is out of the great broodmare Leslie’s Lady, producer of Beholder, Into Mischief, and Mendelssohn. Speightharmony has ability and probably is live. One of her rivals, Only Kidding, is by Speightharmony’s uncle, Into Mischief, and while talented is likely to need a race or two, trainer Brendan Walsh said.

Race 5, a dirt sprint, could be the deepest of the maiden contests. Tulane Tryst looked like a real runner finishing second, with an 82 Beyer, in his career debut Jan. 30. Yet another horse by into Mischief, Tulane Tryst was scratched from a March 4 maiden race after popping a foot abscess, trainer Cherie DeVaux said, and has since come back to train encouragingly. Beduin Fighter, a War Front first-timer for trainer Steve Asmussen, is a grand-looking colt with talent. Mr. Sippi has been working like an entirely different horse than the one you see in the past performances, trainer Joe Sharp reported.

In race 2, Road Bible, another Asmussen firster, has physical tools but needs mental growth. The barn also runs Alejandro, the grandson of the great Rachel Alexandra, who should improve in his second start this meet. Cross Check, a brother to multiple stakes winner Avery Island, races with blinkers added after a modest career debut and, trainer Walsh said, seems set to take a meaningful step forward.