While Brad Cox had an excellent autumn with his Churchill Downs 2-year-olds, his fellow trainer Phil Bauer’s success with Churchill 2-year-olds in September and November was off the charts. Saturday, both stables have key entrants in the two Fair Grounds stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the Untapable at one mile 70 yards and the Letellier Memorial over six furlongs. Bauer, private trainer for Richard Rigney’s Rigney Racing, ran seven 2-year-olds in Churchill maiden races during September and November. Six of them won, and two November maiden winners, Legadema and Halina’s Forte, ship from Kentucky to New Orleans. Once-started Legadema cruised to a front-running victory in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden dash and tries stretching her speed around two turns Saturday. Halina’s Forte won her Nov. 5 sprint debut before finishing a good second 20 days later in the $215,000 Fern Creek Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs. Initial plans called for giving Halina’s Forte time between starts and running Legadema in the Letellier. “Halina’s Forte was telling us she wants to go again. Just the way the two of them were breezing, it made sense to flip-flop,” Bauer said. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Legadema showed speed winning a short sprint but is by Arrogate, whose top 10 earners, led by Secret Oath, excel in routes. Legadema’s dam, Scarlet Love, won at seven furlongs and one mile, and her most successful offspring, Cursor, was a sprinter. In her debut, Legadema dueled on a modest pace, burst away in upper stretch, and coasted to a 2 1/4-length win. Not much can be gleaned from her gallop-out since jockey Martin Garcia shut the filly down just past the wire. “A little more seasoning would be nice. She’s such a classy filly; very, very easy to get along with. [Garcia] never hit her and said there’s way more in there. She’s probably top-class talent wise. This is a big ask, but I think it’s realistic,” Bauer said. Cox had seven 2-year-old Churchill maiden special weight winners this fall, and one of them, West Omaha, goes in the Untapable along with stablemate Alpine Princess. Alpine Princess won her maiden at Saratoga, reared in the gate before running poorly in the Alicibiades, and bounced back with a route allowance win last month. West Omaha might be more talented. A fast-closing third over seven furlongs in her September debut, she rolled to a four-length maiden victory going the same trip Nov. 3. West Omaha won by four lengths and despite her rider easing up with a half-furlong remaining, West Omaha, by West Coast, galloped out strongly. “What we’ve seen in the mornings suggests she’ll go long, and the pedigree and physical say she’ll do it,” Cox said. Halina’s Forte figures favored over the Cox-trained pair of Deboisblanc and Brunch Punch in the Letellier. An easy debut winner going 5 1/2 furlongs, Halina’s Forte in the 6 1/2-furlong Fern Creek finished more than six lengths clear of third while beaten three-quarters of a length by the Cox-trained filly Youalmosthadme, who rallied up the rail. “No shame finishing second to a seasoned horse like that,” Bauer said. “Keeping her at three-quarters is maybe the best thing right now. The biggest concern for me is the length of the stretch.” A fading fourth as the favorite in her summer debut at Ellis Park, Brunch Punch returned last month at Fair Grounds and streaked to a four-length maiden sprint win. Cox said she’s “built like a little tank,” and Brunch Punch should race forwardly under James Graham. Cox thinks Deboisblanc, a moderate second last out in the Smart Halo at Laurel Park, is a candidate to sit off the pace. Mixer possesses ability but no early speed and will be hoping for a Letellier pace meltdown. Two Emmys back in Diliberto Principal owner and trainer Hugh Robertson has always played the long game with Two Emmys, and Robertson, patient as ever, brings Two Emmys back from a long break in the $100,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes on Saturday. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Two Emmys hasn’t started since a dominant win last February in the Fair Grounds Stakes. He was scratched in March during the warm-up period for the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial, which Two Emmys won in 2022 after a finishing second behind high-class Colonel Liam in the 2021 renewal. Two Emmys, who cost $4,500 at auction and is closing on $1 million in earnings, stayed in training through late spring before Robertson turned the gelding out to await another Fair Grounds winter. Two Emmys, a 7-year-old by English Channel, has been breezing since September but is drawn wide in a race that’s no more than a stepping-stone to more important 2024 stakes. Admire him, but play against him. Two Emmys loves Fair Grounds and so does Rising Empire, a much better bet in the 1 1/16-mile Diliberto. A 5-year-old trained by Brendan Walsh, Rising Empire set the pace and finished second in the 2023 Muniz, and he returned from a 4 1/2-month layoff with a two-length win over the course in a Nov. 30 third-level allowance. “Every time I talk to [assistant trainer Paul Madden], he tells me how good the horse is doing since he got down to New Orleans,” Walsh said. Rising Empire and Jareth Loveberry will lead if the pace is slow and stalk if Two Emmys is intent on getting to the front. Harlan Estate brings strong Kentucky form to his Fair Grounds debut and will benefit from cutting back in trip after a second-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile River City at Churchill. “A long stretch is what he wants, and the mile-and-a-sixteenth hits him between the eyes,” trainer Whit Beckman said. Stage Raider fits in Tenacious Stage Raider lost all chance in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile when he fell far behind the pacesetters into the first turn. He lost all chance in the Clark Handicap after that, bucking like a wild bronco as the starting gate sprang. Nonetheless, Stage Raider fits the $100,000 Tenacious Stakes as well as anyone, provided he gives himself a chance. “He’s definitely had some mental stuff we’ve had to work through,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. Stage Raider is one of eight in the 1 1/16-mile Tenacious and a return to his pre-Breeders’ Cup form puts him in the win hunt. Pioneer of Medina is the tepid 7-2 morning-line favorite but ran poorly returning from a long layoff last month at Churchill while making his first start for Cox. Pioneer of Medina was supposed to start last weekend at Remington Park but was scratched because of a medication mix-up. Confidence Game, Five Star General, and Brigadier General should ensure a strong Tenacious pace. Happy American rallied from eighth to win the 2022 Tenacious but ran far below that form in two Kentucky races this fall. ◗ Private Creed, with Joel Rosario riding for trainer Steve Asmussen, should make short work of his older rivals in the $100,000 Richie Scherer Memorial, a turf sprint, albeit at a considerably shorter price than his 3-1 morning line. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.