Fair Grounds: Intense Holiday, Albano likely to get rematch in Louisiana Derby

Intense Holiday wasted no time heading back to trainer Todd Pletcher’s base at the Palm Meadows Training Center in south Florida, leaving Fair Grounds on a Sunday-morning flight that departed well before dawn. By noon, the narrow winner of the Risen Star Stakes was bedded down in his regular stall, looking no worse for travel and racing, and Pletcher confirmed that Intense Holiday probably will be back at Fair Grounds for the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 29.

“I thought he arrived back here in excellent condition,” Pletcher said. “It would certainly make a lot of sense to make the Louisiana Derby our first option.”

Intense Holiday, rallying from eighth in a modestly paced race, got up by a nose over Albano to win the Grade 2 Risen Star. His raw time of 1:43.86 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 97, while the first-place finish earned him 50 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, virtually assuring Intense Holiday a spot in the race.

Pletcher said he was only focused on winning Intense Holiday’s next start, not on the Derby, but did say that he believed the Derby’s 1 1/4-mile distance would suit Intense Holiday.

“I felt that way after the Remsen, when he still had his legs under him going a mile and an eighth as a 2-year-old,” Pletcher said.

Intense Holiday, by Harlan’s Holiday and out of an Unbridled’s Song mare, finished a close fourth in the Remsen Stakes after rallying into a radically slow pace. Mike Smith rode the colt for the first time Saturday and came back impressed with Intense Holiday’s stamina.

“I think Mike learned a few things about him,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully, he’ll come forward from the race.”

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

Albano, breaking from post 1, led every stride of the Risen Star save the last one or two, shrugging off an upper-stretch challenge from Vicar’s in Trouble and nearly holding clear Intense Holiday. And if all goes well, trainer Larry Jones said, Albano will make his next start in the Louisiana Derby.

“I don’t see any reason for tucking tail and trying another racetrack,” Jones said Sunday. “All seems good with him this morning.”

Albano doesn’t have an obvious distance pedigree, but Jones thinks Albano can be effective over longer trips.

“The thing I keep telling myself is he came in a little late, and he’s moving forward as fast as a horse can,” Jones said. “If he can continue to do that, I don’t see why he can’t be right there.”

The connections of third-place Vicar’s in Trouble told Fair Grounds publicity Sunday that no plans had been made for the Lecomte Stakes winner, who was negatively impacted by breaking from post 13 Saturday and ran well in defeat. Fourth-place Hoppertunity is headed back to California, but Bob Baffert’s assistant, Jimmy Barnes, might have dropped a hint that Hoppertunity could come back for the Louisiana Derby when he told Fair Grounds publicity that Hoppertunity “seemed to like the track here.”

Fifth-place Gold Hawk “most likely” will return to contest the Louisiana Derby, trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday. Gold Hawk impressively won an allowance race here in December but was third as the heavy favorite in the Lecomte and failed to progress significantly Saturday.

“I’m just a little out of sync with him right now,” Asmussen said. “I think we can be in better shape.”

There was nothing out of sync about Gold Hawk’s barnmate Untapable, who overwhelmed what looked like decent opposition in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes to win by 9 1/2 lengths Saturday. She ran slightly faster than Intense Holiday, getting her 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.64, a time that produced a Beyer of 100, the highest figure earned by a 3-year-old filly in 2014.

Untapable, who made a great prerace appearance, came out of her race “excellent,” Asmussen said, and probably will have four works to prepare for the Fair Grounds Oaks. That March 29 race will pit her against Unbridled Forever, an impressive winner in her own right in the Jan. 18 Silverbulletday.

Untapable’s first two starts resulted in a maiden win last June and a victory in the Grade 2 Pocahontas last September at Churchill. Nothing went right for her in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, in which Untapable essentially was eased past the finish, and since the filly already was in California and Asmussen has a small string at Santa Anita, Untapable stayed to contest the Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 7, finishing a decent third. Asmussen doesn’t believe she ran close to her best over Hollywood’s synthetic surface. Fair Grounds dirt, the filly clearly loves.

The Pletcher-trained Got Lucky was the distant runner-up in the Rachel Alexandra, and though she exited the race in good condition, Pletcher didn’t commit to a return trip for the Fair Grounds Oaks.

“I thought she ran well, but we thought she was a little quiet on the day,” Pletcher said. “We’ll see how she trains and leave the Fair Grounds Oaks as an option. There are mile-and-an-eighth races for her [at Gulfstream] and at Aqueduct, too, and she wants to run long.”