Anneau d'Or looks to end long drought
Anneau d’Or was a head away from winning the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile – and has not come as close to winning a race of any sort since.
Second by a neck in the Los Alamitos Futurity in his start after the BC Juvenile, Anneau d’Or began what his connections hoped was his path to the Triple Crown by shipping from California to Fair Grounds for the Risen Star Stakes in February 2020. The even-money favorite, Anneau d’Or clunked home ninth in the Risen Star. He raced three more times in 2020, finding little success, and went to the sidelines that August.
Away from the races for 15 months, Anneau d’Or reappeared in Kentucky moved to the barn of trainer Al Stall Jr., for whom he finished a solid if unspectacular third Nov. 6 in a first-level allowance race. Sunday, about 27 months after his first victory, Anneau d’Or tries again for his second when he starts in the seventh race at Fair Grounds.
This is another first-level allowance, but unlike the Churchill race, a one-turn mile, it will be contested around two turns over 1 1/16 miles. That should better suit Anneau d’Or, a big, beautiful colt by Medaglia d’Oro who debuted winning a two-turn turf mile at Golden Gate Fields and never had started in a one-turn contest before his most recent outing.
Anneau d’Or will have Colby Hernandez aboard when he breaks from the rail inside six opponents, barring scratches. His race immediately follows the nine-race card’s other open allowance, a nonwinners-of-two turf sprint for 2-year-old fillies, which drew a modest-looking group of seven.