Eagle fine after Lecomte flop, likely to run in Risen Star

Trainer Neil Howard said Eagle had come out of his seventh-place finish in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds in apparently good physical condition, to the extent that Howard decided to send Eagle back to the track on Tuesday. Many horses get more than just two walk days in the barn after racing.

“He was getting pretty high on me already,” Howard said.

Howard said he and owner-breeder Will Farish plan to push on to the Risen Star unless Eagle gives Howard cause to think otherwise in coming weeks.

“Having talked about it a little, that’s probably the direction we’re headed,” Howard said.

Eagle was the 3-1 Lecomte favorite on the strength of a close third-place finish Nov. 29 in the Kentucky Jockey Club, a race in which he beat Lecomte winner International Star by five lengths. In the Lecomte, International Star finished more than 14 lengths in front of Eagle, who broke from a difficult wide post, 11, and took a solid bump on the race’s first turn. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. told Howard that Eagle was thrown off his game by the rough passage.

“We’re not making excuses, but there may be a few little things we can hang our hat on,” Howard said.