Alonzo has another star in Stand Him Up

It was back late in the last millennium and early this one that the crack sprinter Bonapaw was plying his trade. Tucker Alonzo trained Bonapaw for much of his career, and, at 81, he just might have his best horse since.

Stand Him Up flopped when Alonzo and the Hay Hollow Racing Stable tried him in a minor stakes third time out about a year ago, but Stand Him Up won that same race, the $50,000 Heitai Stakes, in November, and followed up on the victory with a win Saturday in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Sprint. Stand Him Up got a 94 Beyer Speed Figure in the Heitai, but an 86 was good enough to win the Champions Day Sprint.

“I didn’t think he was going to bounce,” Alonzo said. “We bet on him the first time, and we bet on him the second time, too.”

Just as Stand Him Up has hit a peak, the stakes schedule in his division has hit a void. In fact, the only Louisiana-bred stakes for older horses left this Fair Grounds meet is the Dixie Poker Ace, a one-mile race March 3. Alonzo could try him there.

“He’s a nice colt, just training better and better and better,” Alonzo said. “He came out of the race good, too. I might try him on grass, long if I need to.”