Ive Struck a Nerve to rejoin Desormeaux; Stidham comments on FG squad

Ive Struck a Nerve to rejoin Desormeaux; Stidham comments

on FG squad

Having weathered the disappointment of Ive Struck a Nerve's injury with

admirable restraint, Desormeaux was asked how the rest of the year has gone for

him.

"We've had a good year," the trainer said. "We won a $100,000 stake at

Golden Gate (the Pike Place Dancer Stakes at one mile on turf October 26) with

a real nice filly named (Big Chief Racing's) Miss Machiavelli.

"However, we also have a very promising young colt named (Don't Tell My Wife

Stables') Flat Gone," Desormeaux said. "I'm running him in the Grade 3 Delta

Jackpot this Saturday. So I think it's been a good year, and, hopefully, we're

not done yet."

Flat Gone, a son of Flatter, finished fifth in Santa Anita's Front Runner September 28 and was most recently third in the Jean Lafitte at

Delta Downs October 26.

Desormeaux finished in the top 10 of Fair Grounds trainer standings for the

first time last season, saddling 20 winners, 11 seconds and nine thirds from 108

starters, with purse earnings of $631,010.

Trainer Mike Stidham, perennially among the top 10 in the final trainer standings at Fair

Grounds each season, now has Tri-Star Racing, Joe Denson and

Brent Gasaway's Brown Almighty in his barn at the New Orleans oval. The

one-time highly regarded 2013 Triple Crown prospect by 2008 Kentucky Derby and

Preakness winner Big Brown breezed a bullet five furlongs last Saturday in 1:01.

Brown Almighty, who has not run since finishing ninth in the Arlington

Classic last May 25, began his career with a maiden score first asking at

Arlington in 2012, followed that with a tally in the  Sunny's Halo at

Louisiana Downs, was runner-up by a neck in the Sunday Silence there

and was then placed second in the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland before

disappointing in his next six starts.

"I think we're likely to run him in the Woodchopper (about one mile at Fair

Grounds November 30)," Stidham said.

Another Big Brown three-year-old colt in Stidham's barn is West Point Thoroughbreds

et al.'s Ground Transport, winner of back-to-back races at Fair Grounds last

season before finishing fifth in the 100th running of the $1 million Louisiana

Derby.

However, his three races since then -- a ninth in the Illinois Derby at

Hawthorne, an eighth in the Straight Line Stakes over the Arlington Polytrack and a last-place finish on the turf course at Keeneland October 26 have

been disappointing.

"We've had to start from scratch, go back to basics with him," Stidham said.

"We've been experimenting. We tried the grass and tried the Polytrack, so now

we're probably going to start all over with dirt sprinting."

Almost annually at this time of year, another Stidham staple is a crop of

two-year-olds who will turn into three-year-olds in a few weeks, and Stidham was asked

if he had any of those.

"I have one filly named Istanford (owned by Ike Thrash, Dawn Thrash and Sam

Alley) who ran fifth in the (Arlington-Washington) Lassie," the trainer said. "She broke her maiden by five lengths in her first start. I

also have a filly named (Steve Mongerson's) Curlins Queen who is still a maiden

but has shown me some potential.

"I also have a young colt named (Twin Creeks Racing Stables and Brent Gasaway's) Kids

Rule," Stidham added. "He broke his maiden on the grass at Arlington first time

out and looks like he might be a nice one."

Kids Rule, it should be noted, is a son of 1999 Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop

Kid out of a Broad Brush mare and has the pedigree to go a distance of ground.

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