Enterprising surges up rail in Muniz Memorial

Maxis Stable’s Enterprising saved ground throughout and rallied to prove best along the inside in the latter stages of the $300,000 Muniz Memorial (G2) at Fair Grounds, scoring by a hard-fought neck over 9-5 favorite Kasaqui, who edged Oscar Nominated by a nose in the exciting finish. Tyler Gaffalione was up on Enterprising, a 6-year-old gelding by Elusive Quality.

One of four Mike Maker-trained entrants in the about 1 1/8-mile turf affair, Enterprising made it two straight local stakes tallies following a narrow win over stablemate Oscar Nominated in the February 25 Fair Grounds (G3). The Florida-bred is based at Palm Meadows and notched his seventh overall stakes victory, increasing his bankroll to $774,040 from a 29-9-4-5 record.

After early splits in :23.77, :48.27 and 1:11.90, Enterprising stopped the teletimer in 1:48.41 as the 6-1 fourth choice among 11 rivals. He was bred by Glen Hill Farms.

Kasaqui swung widest of all in the stretch and just missed after closing from far off the pace. Oscar Nominated, the 7-2 second choice, closely stalked the action before advancing to the lead in upper stretch and came up a little short in a game effort. It was another length to 26-1 Buzzards Alley in fourth.