Beyerwise, maiden look looks stakes and vice versa on Risen Star card
NEW ORLEANS – In terms of Beyer Speed Figures, the 3-year-olds were all upside-down Saturday at Fair Grounds. Angel of Empire won the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes running 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.47 seconds, good for an 87 Beyer. Earlier on the card, Denington ran down Cagliostro in a first-level allowance race, going 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.41, which yielded a 91 Beyer. And fastest of all was first-time starter Bishops Bay, who in race 5 whistled six furlongs in 1:10.07 and got a 97 Beyer.
Angel of Empire, a 13-1 surprise for trainer Brad Cox, who won four of Saturday’s 13 races, upped his top figure just two points off the 85 he got finishing a distant second last month to Victory Formation in the Smarty Jones Stakes. Victory Formation, the Risen Star favorite, took a serious step back Saturday, fading to finish ninth with no apparent excuse. Tapit’s Conquest, a third Cox runner in the Risen Star, loomed at the eighth pole before flattening out and finishing fourth.
All three horses, Cox said, appeared on Sunday morning to have come out of the Risen Star in good shape. Cox doesn’t know what he’ll do with Victory Formation, who lost for the first time in four starts, and from the way Cox talked about things, Angel of Empire is far from certain to run back here March 25 in the $1 million Louisiana Derby. Cox referenced Angel of Empire’s previous experience at Oaklawn Park, where he was based before the Smarty Jones and until about a week before the Risen Star.
“The Arkansas Derby is a Grade 1, and that means something,” he said.
Cox definitely is pointing Instant Coffee, the Lecomte winner who skipped the Risen Star, to the Louisiana Derby, and he may be inclined to run Tapit’s Conquest in the race. Tapit’s Conquest still is growing up mentally and connections believe he can improve upon the Risen Star, where he looked like he might win a furlong out. Still another Louisiana Derby possible from the Cox barn is Tapit Shoes, who was a good third in the allowance race Denington won – after kicking Cox in the thigh while being saddled before the race.
Cox also trains Bishops Bay, an Uncle Mo colt bet down to odds-on favoritism in his debut. Green in the post parade and not fully focused on racing, Bishops Bay still turned in the fastest maiden performance of the Fair Grounds meet and appears to be a real talent. Cox will look for a first-level allowance, possibly another sprint. Cox also trained the race’s runner-up, First Mission, beaten three-quarters of a length after failing to switch leads. He’ll stretch out to a maiden route for his next start.
Trainer Kenny McPeek came out of the day with two potential Louisiana Derby starters, Denington and Risen Star runner-up Sun Thunder. Denington, exiting a series of stakes races with blinkers removed after a one-start experiment, ran the best race of his career, coming with a strong late run under Corey Lanerie to nail the promising colt Cagliostro by a neck. Sun Thunder, fourth over a sloppy track in the Southwest at Oaklawn, his stakes debut, fought hard along the inside as the Risen Star runner-up.
“My first instinct is to run them both here since they both like the track, but there’s nothing set in stone yet,” said McPeek, who will nominate the pair to the Blue Grass Stakes.
Cagliostro, an eye-catching debut maiden route winner here in January, took a major step forward in his second start and ought to benefit from the experience. After making the lead in upper stretch, Cagliostro appeared to lose focus before battling to the wire. Trainer Cherie DeVaux said Monday she was inclined to try Cagliostro in the Louisiana Derby.
Also pointing for the Louisiana Derby is Baseline Beater, who won a maiden route race Saturday for trainer Neil Pessin.
Two Phil’s, a solid third in the Risen Star, won’t run in the Louisiana Derby but is a possible starter in the Blue Grass, trainer Larry Rivelli said.
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