Bisping ready to deal out some punishment in D.S. “Shine” Young Futurity

Bisping had a built-in fan base before he ever raced as a horse named for the champion MMA fighter Michael Bisping.

Bisping will be in action Saturday night at Evangeline Downs, when he seeks to win his second straight stakes in the $60,000 colts and geldings division of the D.S. “Shine” Young Futurity.

The 5 1/2-furlong race for Louisiana-breds closes the meet. It’s drawn a full field of 12, with Kajun Karma and Kit Kat Kidd starting as a coupled entry for Whispering Oaks Farm and trainer Steve Flint.

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Bisping should go favored as the winner of the $67,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile in his last start Aug. 6 at Louisiana Downs. The Beyer Speed Figure of 66 that he earned for his 3 3/4-length win is the best last-race number in the Shine Young.

“He ran the way we thought he would,” trainer Ricky Courville said. “He’s a nice little horse. He did everything right. He’s always got a few gears left, that little horse – even in the morning when he works. He does it so easy.”

Bisping is a son of El Deal and from the female family of Horse of the Year Mineshaft. He races for Anna Guillot.

Bisping won his debut by four lengths May 19 in a maiden special weight at Evangeline Downs. From there, he was sixth in the Tremont at Belmont Park before returning home to take the Louisiana Cup Juvenile.

“He came out of the race in Shreveport really good,” Courville said of the Louisiana Cup. “He hadn’t had any hiccups. Nothing really bothers him. We had to get him up for that race. He was sleeping down in the stall.”

Devin Magnon was aboard and again has the mount Saturday.

“We hope he gets a good, clean trip,” Courville said. “There’s a bunch of horses in there, some first-time starters. It’s a full field. It gets you worried as far as running into traffic. But he’s pretty quick away from there, and barring nothing happens, he should put himself up close.

“He will come off the pace. We’ve worked him behind horses, and he’ll take the dirt and come running at them.”

Ranch Water and Easy Chance, who ran second and third in the Louisiana Cup, both return in the Shine Young. Ranch Water was a debut winner at Evangeline in July. Easy Chance was a maiden special weight winner at Evangeline in July.

Also in the field is Free From Guilt, who is a half-brother to Free Like a Girl, a multiple stakes winner of more than $450,000 who was to have run Friday in the Charles Town Oaks. Both horses are trained by Chasey Deville-Pomier.