Entry rule won't affect Risen Star lineup

The rule that relegated Lecomte Stakes runner-up Tom’s Ready to the also-eligible list last month won’t need to be applied to the Risen Star Stakes when entries are taken Friday and is likely to not be applied to the Louisiana Derby next month.

Tom’s Ready is owned, like Lecomte winner Mo Tom, by GMB Racing, and when the Lecomte overfilled, Fair Grounds applied a rule that stated that an owner with two entrants had to designate a preferred runner, while the second horse could not exclude any other entrant. In the case of the Lecomte, that meant Tom’s Ready was stuck on the outside looking in behind horses lacking even a maiden win.

That rule is a Louisiana state law, however, only for overnight races, and Fair Grounds had written it into the conditions of all its stakes races. It does not, however, appear on the nomination form for the Louisiana Derby, and for that reason, state steward Roy Wood said Thursday, it probably will not be enforced in that race.

The Risen Star is not expected to draw an overflow field, and Tom’s Ready should have no problem making the main body of the race.

– additional reporting by Bob Fortus