Fair Grounds: High hopes for Gold Hawk heading into Lecomte

[bc_video_id:314276:]NEW ORLEANS – In 2008, trainer Steve Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds swept the Risen Star Stakes and the Louisiana Derby with the excellent colt Pyro. Gold Hawk wears the same maroon and white racing silks. He resides in the same barn.

One hesitates to mention him alongside Pyro, however, since Pyro came to New Orleans after a good second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, while Gold Hawk makes his stakes debut Saturday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte at Fair Grounds.

Yet one gets the sense the Asmussen barn regards Gold Hawk as a colt with vast potential. Pyro never won a race farther than 1 1/16 miles. Gold Hawk only seems to be getting warmed up at middle distances.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

“He stays, and not many of them really do that,” said assistant trainer Scott Blasi on Wednesday morning while ponying Gold Hawk – long-bodied, raw-boned, and encouragingly mellow – onto the Fair Grounds track for a routine gallop.

Gold Hawk is one of nine Lecomte entrants, which will award Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 basis to the top four finishers. Carded at one mile and 70 yards, the Lecomte goes as race 9 on a 12-race program that starts at 12:30 p.m. Central. Four other stakes precede the Lecomte, which has a scheduled post time of 4:23. The weather is forecast to be clear and dry.

Gold Hawk is the 3-1 morning-line favorite over 7-2 Albano, though both horses could go off at lower odds. By Empire Maker and out of the good racemare Caressing, Gold Hawk won his seven-furlong debut on Nov. 30 at Churchill by 2 1/2 lengths, and swooped from sixth at the top of the stretch to win a first-level allowance race on Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds by 3 1/2 lengths going away.

“It’s been very straightforward with him since,” said Asmussen, who believes a Lecomte start will benefit Gold Hawk more than awaiting the Feb. 22 Risen Star.

Albano has three starts to Gold Hawk’s two, and won the Sugar Bowl here by 1 1/2 lengths in his most recent outing. Albano is closely related to Mark Valeski, who finished second in both the 2012 Risen Star and Louisiana Derby.

“He’s better than Mark Valeski at this stage,” trainer Larry Jones said. “He gallops better, and things are easier for him. He’s going to get the distance better.”

Albano has speed, but is rateable, and he is well drawn in post 6. The horse directly to his outside, Vicar’s In Trouble, is very fast, and could go to the front with rail-drawn Roman Unbridled. Vicar’s In Trouble crushed Louisiana-bred maiden sprinters in his most recent start, but makes a big jump into open stakes competition while stretching out.

“He’s naturally speedy, but he’s relaxed,” said Joe Sharp, trainer Mike Maker’s Fair Grounds-based assistant. “He worked behind horses and got dirt in his face the other day. He was fine with it.”

Two Lecomte horses exit Breeders’ Cup races: Smarty’s Echo was a tough-trip 10th in the Juvenile, while Got Shades finished fifth in the Juvenile Turf. Both could benefit from a fast, contested pace but are unproven on dirt.

“He gets across the dirt in good fashion,” trainer Danny Pish said of Got Shades, “but we can’t take anything for granted until he races.”

Smarty’s Echo races with blinkers for the first time, while Plug Catcher, third behind Gold Hawk last month, runs without blinkers after a one-race experiment with the hood.