Autumn Warrior looks solid for Super Derby

Autumn Warrior will head into next month’s Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs undefeated in three starts after he overcame a less-than-ideal trip to win the track’s local prep, the $60,000 Prelude, on Saturday.

“Right now, I’d have to say it’s a go,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said Monday.

Autumn Warrior was a 14 1/2-length debut winner May 5 at Louisiana Downs. One start later he set a quick pace and rolled home by 6 3/4 lengths in the $50,000 Lafayette at Evangeline Downs. He was testing both open company and two turns for the first time in the Prelude, and the Louisiana-bred son of Orb delivered as the even-money favorite. Autumn Warrior rallied for a neck win in a four-way photo Saturday.

“I was impressed with the race because his first two races were just so easy on him,” Stall said. “He clearly lacked seasoning and when he missed the break like that and had one horse beat under the wire first time, I was like, ‘We’re dead,’ for lack of a better term.”

Stall liked how Autumn Warrior was composed in the face of slow fractions and a wall of horses down the backside, how he advanced on the final turn, and how he ran through the lane Saturday.

“He was trying hard,” he said. “I liked the effort he gave …. I was impressed he hit the board, much less won the thing the way things went early.”

Autumn Warrior earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 77. He races for his breeder, the Autumn Hill Farms Racing Stables operation of Louisiana resident Robert Guidry. Autumn Warrior is from the stakes-winning mare Kinsolving and is based at Louisiana Downs.

“The Super Derby is in our own backyard,” Stall said. “We’re hoping that race really might help propel him forward a little bit. He took a ton of dirt. He had to wait. He had to fight. He did all that.”

Colby Hernandez was aboard for the Prelude and has the mount in the Super Derby, Stall said.

Stall will be looking for his fourth Super Derby win behind Apart, Departing, and My Pal Charlie. Stall pulled a Prelude-Super Derby double with Apart.

The first four finishers from this year’s Prelude all earned fees-paid berths into the Super Derby. The race will be back on dirt after a one-year experiment on turf. The Super Derby, which this year will be run at 1 1/16 miles, is set for Sept. 2.