The saying goes something like when the cat's away, the mice will play.
The two Fair Grounds-based big cats – Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon – are en route halfway across the globe to renew their rivalry for a $20 million purse in the Saudi Cup later this month.
Left behind for the Grade 3 Mineshaft are more than a few mice with big plans for a party in the Big Easy Saturday evening.
Vying for favoritism will be Olympiad (3-1) and Miles D (7-2) – a pair of late developing 3-year-olds who hope their best days as older horses start right here at Fair Grounds.
Olympiad, owned in partnership by Robert Clay's Grandview Equine, Everett Dobson's Cheyenne Stable LLC, and Larry, Nanci and Jamie Roth's LNJ Foxwoods, figures to be part of the pace under Junior Alvarado.
The Speightstown colt trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott had a rough trip two starts back in the Cigar Mile (G1) but still managed to finish fourth. He made his 4-year-old debut in demanding fashion winning an allowance race by open lengths at Gulfstream on Jan. 15.
Sporting an identical 6-3-1-1 record as his adversary Olympiad is Peter Brant and Bob LaPenta's Miles D. Trained by Chad Brown, Miles D has done all his racing in New York but ships over from Brown's winter base in Florida for this assignment.
“This horse has done well,” Brown said. “He ran late in the year over at Aqueduct and put up a very nice win against a very talented horse (Speaker's Corner). He's wintered well and now it's time to get his 4-year-old season started. The race came up deeper than I thought it would. He's going to really have to fire off the layoff to beat these horses.”
Team Valor International sends over a major threat to the field with Untreated (9-2) for Todd Pletcher.
Tagged with the 10 hole under Luis Saez, the $550,000 Nyquist colt has three wins from five lifetime starts. He ran behind Essential Quality in the Blue Grass last year in his only stakes outing.
All three horses will be looking for their first graded stakes victory in this 1 1/16-mile contest.
Another lightly raced 4-year-old yearning for his first graded stakes win is Fair Grounds connoisseur O Besos. Owned in partnership by Bernard Racing LLC, Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry Stephens, O Besos owns three wins from five starts in New Orleans, including a third place finish in the Louisiana Derby (G2) last year.
The Greg Foley trainee is listed as 6-1 on Mike Diliberto's morning line.
Providing a little lagniappe to the field are a pair of 7-year-olds in CPK Stables' Midcourt and Charles Fipke's well-traveled Title Ready.
Midcourt exits California, where he has spent his entire 18-race career piling up $613,195 in earnings with a 6-3-4 record. He John Sheriffs-trained gelding only raced twice in 2021 and will be looking for his first graded stakes win since capturing the San Pasqual (G2) back in Feb. of 2020.
Title Ready won his only start at Fair Grounds last year when rallied to win the Louisiana Stakes (G3) for Dallas Stewart. The More Than Ready gelding has not been himself since traveling to Dubai for the 2021 World Cup resulted in an 11th place finish.
After taking the summer off, he returned to run third in an allowance race at Churchill Downs before off the board finishes in a listed stakes at Oaklawn Park in Dec. and the Pegasus World Cup (G1) last month.
Miles D is listed the 122-pound highweight while the rest of the field is tagged with 118 pounds. The Mineshaft is a prep race for the $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2) to be run on March 26.
With a post time of 4:25 p.m. CST, the Mineshaft will run as the 10th race of the 13-race card.
The post Miles D, Olympiad Take Advantage Of Mandaloun’s Absence, Contesting Mineshaft appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
