Fair Grounds notes: Gold Hawk targets Lecomte for stakes debut

Gold Hawk, the 3-year-old Empire Maker colt trained by Steve Asmussen who has started his career with a pair of promising wins, will make his stakes debut in the Jan. 18 Lecomte Stakes, Asmussen said Monday.

Out of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Caressing and owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Gold Hawk won his seven-furlong career debut Nov. 30 at Churchill by 2 1/4 lengths and came back to beat first-level allowance foes around two turns by 3 1/2 lengths on Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds.

Gold Hawk finished off his allowance win with good energy and galloped out well, and Asmussen was pleased with the colt’s first workout since the race, a five-furlong drill in 1:01.60 on Sunday.

“I thought his last race was pretty tough, so I gave him some easy company to drag along,” Asmussen said of the work. “I’m very pleased with how he’s been training.”

Gold Hawk will be returning to racing action after about three weeks’ rest, but Asmussen thinks the horse will benefit from the experience and that the Lecomte – should Gold Hawk run well in it – will provide a solid foundation for future Fair Grounds stakes efforts.

“This is pretty quick, but the series of races at Fair Grounds spaces out really nice. Mentally and physically, I like where he’s at,” Asmussen said.

Tapiture, the Asmussen-trained, Ron Winchell-owned colt who won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 30 at Churchill as a maiden, worked a sharper five furlongs than Gold Hawk on Sunday, going the distance in 1:00.40 while breezing by himself. No specific race has been picked out for Tapiture, but he won’t run in the Lecomte or a first-level allowance race this month at Fair Grounds, Asmussen said.

“He was more aggressive than I preferred, but that’s just where we’re at with him right now,” Asmussen said of Tapiture’s work. “I’m just glad I got it in before the weather got too cold.”

Training at Fair Grounds was conducted in near-freezing weather Monday and canceled because of a hard freeze Tuesday.

On Monday, Asmussen worked his pair of older Fair Grounds stakes winners, Daddy Nose Best, who won the Buddy Diliberto on turf Dec. 21, and Prayer for Relief, who won the Tenacious Handicap on dirt the same day. Prayer for Relief already has been penciled in for a start in the $100,000 Louisiana Handicap on Jan. 18.

Asmussen also reported that Untapable, winner of the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes in September and most recently third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet, has settled in at Fair Grounds and is in regular training, though she has not yet posted a timed workout in New Orleans.

Rise Up returns from break

Rise Up, winner of the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot on Nov. 23 in his most recent start, was due to return to the Fair Grounds barn of trainer Tom Amoss on Tuesday after spending about one month at GoldMark Farm in Ocala, Fla.

Rise Up, by Rockport Harbor, got two weeks of rest at GoldMark and has been training the last two weeks, Amoss said. Amoss called the Feb. 22 Risen Star Stakes a decent possibility for the Rise Up’s 3-year-old debut.

Rise Up had a busy campaign at 2, making three starts for his original trainer, Tim Hamm, and three more for Amoss after Paul and Andrena Van Doren purchased the colt last summer. Rise Up finished sixth in the Iroquois at Churchill but took a strong liking to the bullring at Delta, easily winning the $200,000 Jean Lafitte there before capturing the Jackpot by six lengths.

Another promising Amoss-trained 3-year-old, Kendall’s Boy, blazed through a five-furlong drill in 58.60 seconds Jan. 3 and is closing in on his first start since a disappointing 11th-place finish in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. Before that race, his synthetic-surface and two-turn debut, Kendall’s Boy had won a Churchill maiden sprint by 5 1/4 lengths and finished a good second behind subsequent Grade 1 winner Havana in a Saratoga maiden sprint.

Seeking Ms Shelley finds stride

At age 8, Seeking Ms Shelley is on the longest winning streak of her career. Her sharp win over Good Deed in the Pan Zareta Stakes on Saturday was her fourth straight victory, the longest string of success in her career.

“It’s a funny thought, because she’s 8 years old, but I think she’s just now getting really good,” said Joe Duhon, who trains Seeking Ms Shelley for her owner and breeder, Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin Farms.

Bad feet have plagued Seeking Ms Shelley throughout her career, said Duhon, and though the mare debuted more than five years ago, in November 2008, she has made only 22 starts, winning 13.

“I feel like I mishandled her earlier in her career. Maybe I should have tried going up north with her when she was younger,” Duhon said.

Seeking Ms Shelley – who has five wins on fast dirt, three wins on wet dirt, and five wins on turf – has made all her starts in Louisiana, Arkansas, or Oklahoma, but Duhon said he’s contemplating a trip to Gulfstream Park for the $75,000 Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes on Feb. 23. Another option is the Feb. 22 Spring Fever Stakes, a dirt race at Oaklawn Park.