Catalyst makes her turf debut in Saturday’s 5th race at Sam Houston, a 1 mile maiden special weight event. She’ll be #3 among a field of 10 plus one main-track-only entrant, and has been quoted at odds of 3-1 on the morning line. Post time is 3:00 PM CT / 2:00 PM MT. This is the first time she will compete at this track. Stewart Elliott, who has often got the mount on Fireball Birdie, is in the irons for this race.
Catalyst recently breezed :51.80 at Louisiana Downs on Saturday and definitely fits with this group on figures. She should appreciate the class relief.
The turf surface is a question mark, but there’s reason to believe she’ll take to it. Physically, she’s a lighter-framed horse should appreciate the grass. On pedigree, her dam—who turned out to be a much better producer than runner—switched to the grass at the end of her career and ran some of her best races, hitting the board in all four turf tries. Most of Catalyst’s siblings have excelled on dirt, but Dolder Grand—an $800K 3/4-brother, was G1SP on turf and also did well on synthetic.
Review of other entrants:
#1 Magnolia Princess - Oklahoma-bred showed nothing in dirt sprint debut. Some turf in pedigree but not enough to bank on a dramatic turnaround.
#2 Global Allure (MTO) - Forecast looks pretty dry as of now. Interesting that she’s an MTO as her best prior race for previous connections was on the turf.
[#3 Catalyst]
#4 Wandering Kirby - Favored on the morning line at 9-5 due to a debut third in New York while trained by Chad Brown. Changed hands after RNA’ing for $47K in November and was distanced on the dirt for new connections at Oaklawn. Wouldn’t be banking on turf turning things around that drastically.
#5 Legacy Defined - Well-bred filly showed speed and filled out the trifecta in a similar spot last time. Logical and looks loose on the lead.
#6 Airo Dinero - Beaten a head on the grass in July. Needs to get faster, but she’s more mature now and will appreciate the return to turf. Live longshot.
#7 Over Doer - Hasn’t shown much in two dirt sprints with more than a year gap in between them. Turf doesn’t look like the answer on paper, though this barn does win a lot locally.
#8 Ziah Y G - $1400 yearlings two prior performances in maiden claimers leave much to be desired.
#9 Sugarcoat - Finished one slot ahead of Legacy Defined last out after stalking and putting in a wide bid. Makes plenty of sense.
#10 Royal Subject - Has done no running at all in three prior tries, with the last one having come for a $20K claiming tag.
#11 Tiz a Knockout - 19-time maiden was fifth last time in the race Legacy Defined and Sugarcoat also come out of. No looking like 20’s going to be a magic number.
