Big fields for Lecomte and other Jan. 21 stakes

Against all odds, the Road to the Derby Kickoff Day card drawn Friday at Fair Grounds is filled with appealing stakes races and good-sized fields.

The Jan. 21 card, which features the Lecomte Stakes for 3-year-olds, drew 122 entrants for 12 races despite an ongoing outbreak of the equine herpesvirus at Fair Grounds. The virus that has spread among the horse population is of the milder “wild” subtype, and horses, at worst, have been getting fevers. But six barns are quarantined and their occupants not permitted to race, and no shippers have been allowed onto the track since Jan. 2.

Yet the featured Lecomte, a Grade 3 with a $200,000 purse carded for one mile and 70 yards as a first step toward the $1 million Louisiana Derby, drew 12 entrants. From the rail out, they are Phat Man, Arklow, Totality, Shareholder Value, Untrapped, Marco Mischief, Tip Tap Tapizar, Guest Suite, Running Mate, Takeoff, Pat on the Back, and Saint’s Fan.

The Lecomte is part of the Road to the Derby qualifying series, which determines which horses start in the Kentucky Derby. A total of 17 qualifying points, distributed 10-4-2-1, will be awarded to the top four finishers. The Lecomte goes as race 11 at 5 p.m. Central.

There’s one other graded stakes on the Jan. 21 card, the Grade 3 Col. E.R. Bradley for older turf horses, and that race drew nine entrants headed by Chocolate Ride, the winner of the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz Stakes in 2015. Chocolate Ride finished fourth, beaten just a neck, in the Dec. 17 Buddy Diliberto, his first race back from a long layoff. The three horses in front of him – Western Reserve, Greengrassofyoming, and Granny’s Kitten – also are entered in the Bradley, which is contested at about 1 1/16 miles.

Seven 3-year-old fillies were entered in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes, an early prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks and the Kentucky Oaks. The field includes Farrell, the likely favorite on the strength of a blowout win in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes last fall at Churchill Downs, though Farrell’s final status for the race won’t be determined until she works next week. Other prominent entrants are the recent Fair Grounds allowance winner Untapped, who is a sister to champion Untapable, and Summertime Sky, an impressive debut winner of a turf sprint Dec. 31 at Fair Grounds.

The $75,000 Marie Krantz Stakes, a turf route for older females, drew a strong field of 12, among them the top-class dirt mare I’m a Chatterbox, who would be making her turf debut. I’m a Chatterbox had been pointed to the Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston before the herpes outbreak. The Krantz also includes Cash Control and Kitten’s Roar, separated by a head at the finish of the Blushing K. D. Stakes last month, and the very sharp Fair Grounds turf allowance winner Cambodia.

Yockey’s Warrior, the eye-catching Thanksgiving Handicap winner at Fair Grounds in his most recent race, drew the rail but still will be favored to beat five foes in the $75,000 Duncan Kenner Stakes, a six-furlong dirt sprint for older horses.

The $75,000 Louisiana Stakes, a dirt route for older horses, got eight entrants, including Honorable Duty, who won the Tenacious last month at Fair Grounds, and Iron Fist, who was second in the 2015 Pennsylvania Derby.