Anthony’s Cross colt ‘saves’ Fair Grounds bettors

One definition of messiah is: “a leader or savior of a particular group or cause,” and that’s just what the 3-year-old Anthony’s Cross colt Messiah did for his backers at Fair Grounds yesterday after he was nearly taken out of the race rounding the first turn. Sent off as the 3-1 second choice in a $42,000 maiden special at “about” one mile on the grass, Messiah and rider James Graham were pushed about eight wide heading into the turn, a position few horses have the ability to recover from. But Graham settled his colt into seventh place down the backstretch, swung wide on the final turn, and Messiah gamely oufought the remaining two leaders to the wire, winning by a neck in a three-horse photo. Messiah had finished second, third and fourth in his three previous tries, closing in each. His first career victory was worth $22,800, raising his total to $35,780.