In the days after Built struggled home second on Jan. 18 in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds, trainer Wayne Catalano deemed the horse an unlikely runner in the Risen Star Stakes. Built had scored a sharp victory a month earlier in the Gun Runner, and Catalano figured he’d bring a fresh horse into the Louisiana Derby on March 22. But there’s been a change of plans. Built showed up in the entries when the Grade 2, $500,000 Risen Star was drawn Saturday, and Catalano said the intention is to run. Catalano and Built’s owner, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, hope they have a colt worthy of a start in the Kentucky Derby. Built has earned 20 points in the series of races Churchill Downs uses to determine which horses start in the Derby. The cutoff to make the 20-runner field when the race is drawn has been about 40 points in recent years. Catalano and Eclipse president Aron Wellman decided that putting all their eggs in one basket, the Louisiana Derby, carried risk. “We were thinking if we wait for the Louisiana Derby and happen not to get points, now we’re scrambling,” Catalano said Sunday afternoon. “The horse is doing great.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Sunday morning, Built worked a relatively easy half-mile in 50 seconds. That breeze came after Built went a half on Feb. 2 in 47.80, his first work after the Lecomte. “We just let him stretch his legs a little. We’re all set and ready to go,” Catalano said. Corey Lanerie rode Built when he finished a distant fourth behind Risen Star rival East Avenue in an Ellis Park maiden sprint in August. At the Keeneland meet in October, Lanerie rode Built to a smart seven-furlong maiden win, but Lanerie missed a flight from Kentucky that cost him the ride in the Gun Runner. Jareth Loveberry substituted and put Built on an easy lead. Built, finishing very fast, made short work of five foes. Built could not handle a sloppy, sealed track in the Lecomte, however, grinding out a runner-up finish. Catalano noted that the colt spent much of his trip bogged down on the rail, the worst part of the track. Now, Built has a new jockey, Luis Saez. But with rain cropping up again in the Saturday forecast, Built’s connections might face the prospect of another wet track. “It’s up in the air if we’d run,” said Catalano. Thirteen were entered in the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star, which will have East Avenue as a potentially heavy favorite. Unraced since finishing ninth after a stumbling start as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, East Avenue capped the work pattern into his 3-year-old debut with a five-furlong drill in 1:00.80 on Saturday. Working with another horse, East Avenue willingly drew away from his company approaching the finish line and going out onto the clubhouse turn. “He worked great, exactly what we wanted,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.