NEW ORLEANS – Graded stakes winners Airoforce and Mo Tom head a field of 13 3-year-olds entered Friday for the $400,000, Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 20 at Fair Grounds. Airoforce, who is based at the Palm Meadows training center for trainer Mark Casse, will be racing for the first time since winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 28 on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs. That race was Airoforce’s first on dirt. In stakes on turf, the colt won the Grade 3 Bourbon at Keeneland and finished second, a neck behind Hit It a Bomb, in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland. Mo Tom opened his 2016 campaign with a 2 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Lecomte on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds. As a 2-year-old, Mo Tom won the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill before finishing third in the Kentucky Jockey Club, 1 3/4 lengths behind Airoforce. Tom Amoss trains Mo Tom for Gayle Benson’s GMB Racing. Benson is the wife of New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson. Lecomte runner-up Tom’s Ready, trained by Dallas Stewart for Gayle Benson, led in midstretch in the Lecomte but couldn’t hold off Mo Tom. In three meetings between those Benson runners, Mo Tom finished in front of Tom’s Ready every time, but Stewart is hopeful that Tom’s Ready can reverse the pecking order. He appears to be improving, Stewart said. “We’re just building as we go,” he said. “His weight’s good. His attitude’s good. He’s healthy. He’s doing well.” Uncle Walter, who finished third in the Lecomte in his stakes debut, will be making a return trip from Gulfstream Park to Fair Grounds for trainer Mike Maker. Trainer Steve Asmussen will be sending out Gun Runner for his first start as a 3-year-old. At 2, Gun Runner won his first two races before finishing fourth in the Kentucky Jockey Club, 3 1/4 lengths behind Airoforce. In Equality, trained by Leah Gyarmati, is coming off a third-place finish, 6 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Flexibility, in the Grade 3 Jerome on Jan. 2 at Aqueduct. Another graded stakes-placed runner is the maiden Laoban, an Eric Guillot trainee coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Sham, 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Collected, on Jan. 9 at Santa Anita. Also coming from California is Bistraya, who won a one-mile maiden race Jan. 24 at Santa Anita for trainer Ricky Agarie. As a 2-year-old, Bistraya finished fourth in the Grade 2 Best Pal at Del Mar, 10 1/4 lengths behind the winner, Nyquist. The field includes two first-level optional-claiming winners at two turns at Fair Grounds – Dolphus, trained by Joe Sharp, and Candy My Boy, trained by Roger Brueggemann. The runner-up to Candy My Boy was Forevamo, who as a 2-year-old won the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs for trainer Al Stall Jr. Another locally based entrant is Zapperini, who won a two-turn maiden race Jan. 21 at Fair Grounds for trainer Greg Foley. Another shipper is Its All Relevant, who won a one-mile Gulfstream Park maiden race for trainer Dominick Schettino. Here’s the field, in post-position order with jockeys: In Equality (Junior Alvarado), Mo Tom (Corey Lanerie), Dolphus (Brian Hernandez Jr.), Bistraya (Edwin Maldonado), Forevamo (Colby Hernandez), Gun Runner (Florent Geroux), Its All Relevant (Joe Bravo), Tom’s Ready (John Velazquez), Laoban (Miguel Mena), Airoforce (Julien Leparoux), Zapperini (Francisco Torres), Uncle Walter (Javier Castellano), and Candy My Boy (Shaun Bridgmohan). The Risen Star, the final stakes prep for the Louisiana Derby, is the feature on a card that includes six stakes. Other graded races on the card are the Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra for 3-year-old fillies and two $125,000, Grade 3 route races for 4-year-olds and up – the Mineshaft on dirt and the Fair Grounds Handicap on turf. Rematch in Rachel Alexandra Stageplay and Midnight On Oconee, who ran 1-2 in the Silverbulletday Stakes, are returning in an eight-filly field in the $200,000 Rachel Alexandra at 1 1/16 miles. The race is the final prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks. In the mile-and-70-yard Silverbulletday on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds, Stageplay, trained by Asmussen, won by 1 1/4 lengths. Stageplay’s only defeat in four starts came in her last race as a 2-year-old, when she finished second to Carina Mia in the Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs. Midnight On Oconee, who has won 2 of 5 starts for trainer Larry Jones, showed improvement from her last start as a 2-year-old, when she tired in the stretch and finished fourth in the Trapeze Stakes at Remington Park. She’s from “a slow-maturing family,” Jones said. “She’s picking it up. She’s getting better all the time. She was coming back pretty good at the end. We don’t push our babies really hard. If I win races with 2-year-olds, it’s because they’re really good horses.” A possible pacesetter is Forever Darling, who won the Grade 2 Santa Ynez at 6 1/2 furlongs Jan. 2 at Santa Anita. Richard Baltas trains Forever Darling, who finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in her only two-turn start. Chocolate Ride attempts repeat Chocolate Ride, who was the leading turf horse last season at Fair Grounds and is 2 for 2 at this meet on grass, will be running for a repeat victory in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap. The gelding, trained by Brad Cox, is coming off a win in the Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley Handicap. The Fair Grounds Handicap is the final stakes prep for the Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial, which Chocolate Ride won last season. His eight rivals next Saturday include Bradley runner-up Roman Approval. The Mineshaft brings a rematch between International Star and Eagle, who ran 1-2 in the Louisiana Stakes. “That’s just a darn good horse,” Neil Howard, the trainer of Eagle, said of International Star, who is 4 for 4 on the Fair Grounds dirt. “Who knows if we can beat him? I think we’ll be competitive.”