Grade 2 Winner Liora Tries Silverbulletday Stakes

After closing 2018 with an upset win over Restless Rider in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs, Coffeepot Stables' Liora will seek to build on that frontrunning score when she faces an expected field of six other 3-year-old fillies in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes Jan. 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Liora will also be going for a third straight win after a 1 1/16-mile maiden score Oct. 28 at Churchill before gamely prevailing in a stretch duel with Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) winner Restless Rider in the Golden Rod, winning by a nose at 27-1. Liora is trained by Wayne Catalano.

The Silverbulletday is the first Road to the Kentucky Oaks points race on the Fair Grounds schedule. It awards points to the top four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 scale. At Fair Grounds, the Silverbulletday will be followed by the Feb. 16 Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) (50-20-10-5), and the March 23 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) (100-40-20-10).

The Silverbulletday field features four other fillies entered off of at least two straight wins in Cowgirls Like Us, who boasts three straight stakes wins at Retama Park and Remington Park; and back-to-back winners Grandaria, Needs Supervision, and undefeated Mandy Blue. Each of the latter three will be making their stakes debuts.

The stakes is one of six planned for Saturday at Fair Grounds, including the Lecomte Stakes (G3) (click here for preview). 

Additional horses of note in the other four stakes on the Fair Grounds card include:

• Naveed Chowhan's America's Tale looks for a fourth straight win and third straight stakes score in the $75,000 Marie G. Krantz Memorial Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf. While America's Tale enters the 1 1/16-mile race in top form, the daughter of Gio Ponti 's recent wins came on dirt and she'll move to the grass Saturday.
• Grade 1-placed Honorable Duty who is undefeated in three starts at Fair Grounds, including a victory in the 2017 New Orleans Handicap (G2), will make his 2019 debut in the $75,000 Louisiana Stakes for 4-year-olds and older. The 7-year-old Distorted Humor  gelding will start from the outside in the expected field of seven going 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
• The $125,000 Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap will feature older horses going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. After closing 2018 with back-to-back wins, including a 4 1/2-length romp in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes on the Fair Grounds lawn, Great Wide Open will try to continue that streak in his 2019 debut.
• In the $75,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes for older horses sprinting six furlongs, John Mentz's Wynn Time will try for a third stakes win at the current meeting. The Illinois-bred 5-year-old son of Three Hour Nap won the Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Handicap on the main track before taking the Bonapaw Stakes sprinting on the turf Dec. 22. Wynn Time returns to the main track Saturday.