Chip Honcho-Liberty National rematch in Lecomte seems unlikely

Chip Honcho and Liberty National, separated by three-quarters of a length finishing first and second Saturday in the Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds, seem very unlikely to meet again in the Grade 3 Lecomte on Jan. 17.

Plans aren’t yet set for Chip Honcho, who could race again in January, but Kenny McPeek, who trains Liberty National, appears inclined to skip January racing and aim for a February start.

Chip Honcho made his two-turn debut and first start wearing blinkers in the Gun Runner. He ran 1 1/16 miles over a fast track in 1:44.76, a raw time that produced an 81 Beyer Speed Figure, the same number Chip Honcho had earned landing a one-turn-mile maiden last month at Churchill Downs.

Chip Honcho, drawn inside, was part of a rough start to the Gun Runner, which probably contributed to the colt racing more keenly than ideal during the early and middle stages. Chip Honcho looked an unlikely winner at the eighth pole, with pacesetting Crown the Buckeye repelling his initial challenge in upper stretch, but Crown the Buckeye tired badly the final 200 yards and Chip Honcho got up.

“Pleased with the result and think it can go smoother,” Steve Asmussen, who trains Chip Honcho for Leland Ackerley Racing, said Sunday. “He didn’t get away clean, and first time with blinkers he was obviously pretty aggressive after that. He kind of got up on the bridle and it took him awhile to drop it. The positives are he won and it looks like he’ll stay on, and we’re happy with how he is this morning.”

Other than aiming the colt, by Connect, in the general direction of the Kentucky Derby, Asmussen said there are no set plans for Chip Honcho, who debuted in October and made his third start in the Gun Runner. Should connections decide to race Chip Honcho outside Louisiana before late March, the colt would need a new jockey since Paco Lopez rode him Saturday. The state of Louisiana isn’t party to rules set forth by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which on Sept. 23 handed Lopez a six-month suspension for misuse of the crop. Lopez typically winters in Florida but moved his tack to Louisiana this fall.

The rough Gun Runner start, McPeek believes, proved instrumental in Liberty National’s defeat at odds of 13-10. McPeek said he considered claiming foul on Chip Honcho for interference out of the gate.

“I think that cost us the race,” McPeek said. “My horse galloped out three in front.”

McPeek’s perspective aside, racing from well off the speed in the Gun Runner, even if unintentionally, could have proved advantageous: Crown the Buckeye went a fast opening half, 46.66, and all the horses near the pace looked gassed in the late stages.

McPeek still believes Liberty National, a smart Churchill maiden winner in November, is Kentucky Derby material. He plans on giving the colt two more Derby preps and will consider the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, and the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby in New Orleans.

“I’d say 60 days spacing would be good,” McPeek said. “He’ll punch his ticket in the next two starts.”

Bad break for Luv Your Neighbor

There are untold ways to lose a horse race, and the connections of Luv Your Neighbor experienced an obscure one Saturday in the Untapable Stakes.

Luv Your Neighbor, making her first start in a route race, stalked the pace and came with a run past the five-sixteenths pole and into the homestretch that had her on roughly even terms with the two leaders, Pashmina and Hit Parade, at about the three-sixteenths marker. Pashmina started to fade as Hit Parade lugged in, shutting the gap that Pashmina had occupied, while simultaneously Luv Your Neighbor drifted a path or so off the rail. Hit Parade and Luv Your Neighbor never bumped, but in brushing, jockey Axel Concepcion’s right foot slipped slightly out of the stirrup. A sixteenth of a mile later, Concepcion lost his iron entirely, Luv Your Neighbor finishing the race with her jockey leaning precipitously left. She lost by a head.

“I felt like that close of a finish it could have made a difference,” said Michael Stidham, who trains Luv Your Neighbor for Lael Stables.

Luv Your Neighbor, by Constitution, got an 81 Beyer and probably runs back Jan. 17 in the Silverbulletday Stakes, Stidham said. The filly made her fourth start Saturday after a debut win over seven furlongs at Colonial Downs; a throwout race at Woodbine, where she loathed the synthetic racing surface; and a close second in a Fair Grounds first-level sprint allowance.

“We thought she would go two turns,” Stidham said. “Her body doesn’t scream it, but the family indicated she should, and she’s got a really good mind.”

*** Stidham reported that Think Big, who won Grade 2 turf sprints in April and May as well as the Grade 3 Kelso over one mile in July, has resumed training at Keeneland and should join his Fair Grounds barn early next year. Think Big hasn’t started since a fifth on Aug. 2 in the Fourstardave after coming up with a relatively minor injury that required a period of rest.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.