Modo will bring the best collection of Beyer Speed Figures into the $135,000 Oaklawn Anywhere overnight stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Sunday at Oaklawn Park.
The race, which will be run over six furlongs, is restricted to nonwinners of a stakes race other than statebred. It drew a cast of 10.
Modo owns the field’s best last-race Beyer, an 89, which is the fourth time she’s put up a number in the 80s. She earned that figure, which equaled her career best, for a second-level allowance win over 6 1/2 furlongs on Nov. 14 at Churchill Downs. The start was her first since May.
“Modo has really done very little wrong in her career,” trainer Tom Amoss said. “Her comeback race was very good at Churchill Downs. She’s a horse that wants to kind of control things up front, but if that doesn’t happen, I don’t think it’s the end of the world. In my opinion, she can be tactical, so we’ll see how that goes.”
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Modo will start from post 6, and while she appears to be quicker than most of her foes Sunday, a runner with comparable speed is Anakarina. Anakarina drew well, too, as she’s situated outside of Modo in post 10. Others who could show pace include Keyana and Coaster.
Modo is a daughter of Liam’s Map who races for Joel Politi. She won the $75,000 Bara Lass for Texas-breds in January at Sam Houston Race Park, and there’s a chance she could return to the Houston track for statebred stakes opportunities during the upcoming meet, Amoss said.
For the Bara Lass win, Modo earned a Beyer of 81. From there, she ran second in a pair of first-level allowances at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn, with respective Beyers of 83 and 89. The three-time winner has finished first, second, or third in six of her seven starts.
“Speaking of horses that try, she’s definitely in that category,” Amoss said.
Luis Saez has the mount Sunday.
The other stakes winner in the field is Caliente Star, who defeated fellow Arkansas-breds in the $150,000 Rainbow Miss last April at Oaklawn. For the effort, she earned a Beyer of 70.
Caliente Star is moving back to one turn Sunday, and she’s never been beaten at the configuration in three starts. Those wins all came at six furlongs at Oaklawn.
Caliente Star will be giving up recency to her rivals, as she is making her first start since June, when she ran second in the $50,000 Panthers at a mile at Prairie Meadows. For her return, she has been working regularly at Oaklawn.
Francisco Arrieta, who has ridden Caliente Star in all of her starts at Oaklawn, has the mount from the rail for Jama Lopez and trainer Tammy Hornsby. The filly came from off the pace in her three sprint wins at Oaklawn.
Decadent is another who figures to bid from off the pace. She is shortening up in distance off a runner-up finish in a second-level allowance at a mile at Churchill, for which she earned a Beyer of 79. Earlier in her career, she was a debut winner at seven furlongs in the slop at Gulfstream Park.
Manny Esquivel has the mount from post 3 for trainer Kenny McPeek.
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