Eagle maturing ahead of Lecomte Stakes
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NEW ORLEANS – Fair Grounds bills it as “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” – a little clunky, sure, but point made.
The five-stakes card Saturday has the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte at its center, one of the first two-turn stakes for 3-year-olds of the season. The Lecomte will start a couple of horses down the Derby trail. The rest, well, they’ll be kicked off.
“With where we’re at right now, if you start out with a talented, sound 3-year-old, you better get consistently better because the competition definitely will,” said trainer Steve Asmussen.
Asmussen has a colt, Tiznow R J, who he thinks is getting better. He scored a blowout maiden win here in December, but as his trainer said, he will have to get better.
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The most advanced of the 11 Lecomte entrants is Eagle, whose close third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill is the best performance of any Lecomte runner.
Eagle drew poorly in post 11, and another contender, Another Lemon Drop, has post 10. Those two might not need to improve much, but they’ll require racing luck.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 11 Eagle. Trainer Neil Howard is 39-4-5-4 with a $1.03 ROI over the past five years in dirt routes following a layoff of 45 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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At stake in the Lecomte are 17 qualifying points (distributed 10-4-2-1) that will help determine the 20 horses to make the Kentucky Derby field. One person not thinking about Derby points is Neil Howard, Eagle’s trainer. Howard lives the mantra: “One race at a time.” His focus is Saturday, not the first Saturday in May.
“The colt has come along, matured,” Howard said. “He’s gotten pretty professional.”
Eagle, Another Lemon Drop, Tiznow R J, and War Story look like the principal players in the mile-and-70-yard Lecomte, though discounting a Todd Pletcher ship-in such as Savoy Stomp could prove imprudent. Runhappy is the wild card – and wild horse. His lone start mixed utter greenness with obvious talent. Trainer Gennadi Dorochenko, who won the 2012 Louisiana Derby with the 109-1 Hero of Order, has two horses, Hero of Humor and Dekabrist, who are overmatched on paper.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 War Story. Trainer Tom Amoss is 37-5-1-4 with a $0.86 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes with last-out winners. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
The Lecomte goes off at 5:24 p.m. Central and is race 11 on a 12-race card with an early 12:30 first post. The Lecomte is the cashing leg in an all-stakes pick four. The forecast calls for warmth and sunshine.
Key Contenders
Eagle (Last 3 Beyers: 93-78-78)
* Debuted at Ellis Park, where a five-furlong win produced a lowly 46 Beyer Speed Figure, but watch Eagle pass the finish and gallop out, and his talent already is evident.
* Failed to change leads and appeared unfocused the second time out but has improved considerably. A spot of trouble in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club cost him a chance to run down the victorious El Kabeir, who looked good in winning the Jerome.
* Post 11 is just 3 for 97 over the last five years in Fair Grounds races at this distance.
Another Lemon Drop (Last 3 Beyers: 87-81-71)
* Won his maiden at nine furlongs on turf, and distance is no issue.
“With a horse like this, you worry about the race being too short, not too long,” said trainer Phil Bauer.
* Galloped out extremely well after burying a first-level allowance field here.
“He’s moved forward every race, but I don’t think we’ve gotten to the bottom of him,” Bauer said.
Tiznow R J (Last 3 Beyers: 86-69-69)
* A massive horse who should develop with racing and distance. He is awkward at times, and his lead changes have been slow or nonexistent. Can’t make those mistakes and win, but he has pace and talent.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Savoy Stomp. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 18-6-7-0 with a $7.59 ROI over the past two years in dirt route graded stakes with Mike Smith aboard. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan