Calhoun has young prospect Game Day Play in Lecomte as stable veterans return

Silver Dust, who won the Grade 3 Mineshaft last February at Fair Grounds, worked a half-mile Saturday, his first breeze since a 30-day winter freshening. His Bret Calhoun-trained stablemate By My Standards, who won the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic this past March, got 45 days of farm rest and is due to return to Calhoun’s barn sometime this week.

Both older horses ended their 2020 seasons with a whimper, and Calhoun hopes that Game Day Play, a member of the 3-year-old class of 2021, can start his campaign with a bang Saturday in the Lecomte Stakes.

The Grade 2, $200,000 Lecomte is the headliner on a six-stakes, 13-race card Jan. 16 and is the first of two local prep races for the $1 million Louisiana Derby in March.

Game Day Play is one of 11 entered in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte, which could have Mandaloun as a favorite. Three entrants, however, could be scratched: Beep Beep and Manor House are cross-entered in a Saturday allowance race, while Dyn O Mite is uncertain to run.

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As for Game Day Play, he was supposed to have started Dec. 18 in the Springboard Mile at Remington Park after winning the Clever Trevor there Oct. 30. The Springboard was on a Friday and Calhoun said the Remington track surface froze and was closed for training three days early that week, leaving Game Day Play very sharp when he was led over to race. A loud noise startled him, Game Day Play acted up and got loose, and was scratched before saddling.

“I was sick,” Calhoun said. “I felt really good about him there.”

Game Day Play makes his two-turn debut Saturday, though he might have run close to a mile in the one-turn, seven-furlong Clever Trevor, so wide was he caught on the turn. That marked Game Day Play’s second win, following an August maiden score where he beat Super Stock, who went on to finish third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity.

“Now we’ve got a longer period between races and he’s going farther, so there are a lot of questions, but this horse is interesting,” said Calhoun. “I like the way he’s worked down here.”

Silver Dust ran well throughout 2020 until the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, where he was 10th with no apparent excuse. If all goes well, he might be ready to start late this Fair Grounds meet, but By My Standards, who won the Oaklawn Handicap and the Alysheba and was second in the Grade 1 Whitney after leaving New Orleans last year, probably won’t be set to race until April or May.

◗ The featured second race Thursday reprises the Louisiana Champions Day Turf, won by Ninety One Assault, who will be favored in this Louisiana-bred turf allowance. Speedy Pound for Pound has a chance at an upset while making his second career turf start as the temporary turf rail comes down, opening fresh ground along the inside of the course.