NEW ORLEANS – Paladin came out of his Risen Star Stakes victory Saturday at Fair Grounds in good shape and on Sunday was headed back to trainer Chad Brown’s winter base at Payson Park. Paladin’s next start, Brown said, will come in the Blue Grass on April 4 at Keeneland. Now unbeaten after three races, Paladin won the Remsen Stakes over 1 1/8 miles to end his brief 2-year-old campaign and started his 3-year-old season with a hard-fought score over pacesetting Chip Honcho in the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star. The winner’s raw time of 1:49.14 produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 93, a step forward from the 87 and 85 in his 2-year-old races, but not so much of one that connections can’t expect further improvement in coming races. Paladin earned 50 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby, more than enough to get him into the race. “He secured the points and won the race – just what we were looking for,” Brown said. The Fair Grounds main track favored front-runners Saturday, and that dictated tactics deployed by jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Paladin for the first time with Flavien Prat, aboard for the colt’s first two starts, riding Saturday in Saudi Arabia, where he piloted Nysos to a second-place finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup. Paladin stalked pace-setting Chip Honcho and attacked early, taking on the leader at the head of the homestretch, and requiring nearly all of it to get home by a half-length. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “I thought he ran terrific," Brown said. "It was just the race I was looking for. He really had to reach down and got a lot out of it. Tyler rode a great race at every pole and had the good judgment to move a little earlier, given the way the track was playing.” Asked Saturday if he were merely substituting for Prat, Gaffalione demurred: “I just go where Chad asks me to go,” Gaffalione said. And on Sunday, Brown was noncommittal about who would ride Paladin in the Blue Grass. “Prat wasn’t available, Tyler was our next choice, and he did an excellent job,” Brown said. “Moving forward, we’ll just see how things play out. These things have a way of working themselves out. It’s a huge benefit to have another world-class rider get to know the horse.” Paladin follows the same path Brown took with his two best Kentucky Derby finishers, Zandon, who was third in the 2022 Derby, and Sierra Leone, beaten a nose in 2024. Zandon finished third in the Risen Star before winning the Blue Grass. And Paladin’s similarities to Sierra Leone in terms of schedule and accomplishment are almost eerie. Sierra Leone also raced twice in New York at age 2 and won the Remsen, and he, too, made his third start and 3-year-old bow in the Risen Star, where he earned a 95 Beyer. Lagynos, Montador to meet again in Muniz Lagynos and Montador, one-two in the Fair Grounds Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf Saturday, are on target to meet again next month in the Muniz Memorial Stakes on the Louisiana Derby undercard. Coming into the Fair Grounds, Lagynos, while accomplished, looked like a miler who could not really stay 1 1/8 miles. Things look different coming out of the race. Lagynos made a sustained run under Jose Ortiz and hit the wire still full of life, his time of 1:48.02 producing a career-best 100 Beyer. “I was impressed,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. Four-year-old Montador made his first start against older horses and showed he fits with them at the stakes level. His trip came up less than ideal. A bulky colt caught in tight quarters nearly the entire race, he finished with interest when finally clear. Trainer Michael Stidham said Montador was in good order Sunday and will target the Muniz. * Five-year-old turf mare Expensive Queen dominated the Albert Stall Memorial, her first stakes score, but is likely to rejoin trainer Brendan Walsh’s string at Palm Meadows and pass the $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial here March 21. The Benson is ungraded and connections will next look to graded stakes company with an improving, talented European import. Expensive Queen won the Stall by 2 1/4 lengths and got a career-best 93 Beyer. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.