Desormeaux may skip Risen Star with Call Me Midnight, go straight to La. Derby

Call Me Midnight worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds Feb. 5 at Fair Grounds, his first breeze since upsetting the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 22, but it’s far from certain this was a work toward the Feb. 19 Risen Star Stakes.

Call Me Midnight got up by a head in the Lecomte, rallying from eighth of nine at odds of 28-1 with a major assist from a scorching early and middle pace that left runner-up Epicenter vulnerable enough to be tagged at the wire. Keith Desormeaux, who trains Call Me Midnight, talked about the beneficial race flow immediately after the Lecomte, a buoy of rational analysis bobbing up through the usual waves of stakes-winning emotion.

And Desormeaux has maintained the staunchly analytic approach. The Risen Star, offering 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, would be in some sense a logical next step for Call Me Midnight. A different schedule might better suit a blossoming colt who already has raced seven times, but Call Me Midnight’s connections also must play the Derby points-accumulation game; right now, Call Me Midnight has 10.

“We’re going to continue to try and figure out what’s good for him,” Desormeaux said Sunday. “I don’t need to push him; he’s got plenty of foundation, run several times. Off a big race, four weeks back seems a little quick, and if there wasn’t a race called the Kentucky Derby on our calendar, I wouldn’t hesitate to skip [the Risen Star].

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“Do you keep running in every race to keep accumulating points, or do you pick your spots in order to have a legitimate shot in the Derby? The best thing might be to skip the Risen Star and run in the [March 26] Louisiana Derby and get the points there. Then the [Kentucky] Derby becomes the third race off the layoff, and it should set up for him.”

Desormeaux made it clear that Call Me Midnight’s physical condition and training since the Lecomte wasn’t a motivating factor in considering a more patient approach. “He looks great; that’s part of what’s making it a tough decision,” he said.

The Risen Star could be coming up a deep, tough race for a February Derby prep. Epicenter, who realistically ran the best race finishing second in the Lecomte, has kept to a workout pattern trainer Steve Asmussen often employs, going an easy half-mile nine days after his race. Epicenter, who won the Dec. 26 Gun Runner in his stakes debut, returned to the work tab Monday, drilling five furlongs in 1:00.40.

Pappacap also runs back in the Risen Star after finishing third, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the Lecomte, his first race since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Pappacap worked a half-mile Feb. 6 in 48.20 seconds. A video clip of the workout showed him coming sweetly under the wire with fluid, easy strides.

“He’s such a beautiful mover, but he hasn’t had a chance to show it his last three starts,” said trainer Mark Casse.

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In the Lecomte, the BC Juvenile, and the American Pharoah Stakes, Pappacap worked through claustrophobic inside trips. “I just want to see him get outside and in the clear and see how he does,” Casse said.

Pappacap gets a jockey change to Tyler Gaffalione in the Risen Star.

Smile Happy, ultra-impressive winning the Kentucky Jockey Club (from which White Abarrio emerged to win the Holy Bull, as well as Call Me Midnight coming back to capture the Lecomte), is the likely Risen Star favorite shipping from Florida for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Zandon, a fine second in the Remsen behind Mo Donegal, who went on to run a solid third in the Holy Bull, also is an anticipated Risen Star runner. So is Slow Down Andy, whose stock rose considerably over the weekend.

Slow Down Andy, trained by Doug O’Neill, won the Los Alamitos Futurity in his most recent start, beating Messier, who returned to crush foes Sunday in the Robert Lewis Stakes.