Fair Grounds notes: Roussel still finding winner’s circle

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Louie Roussel III, who won three races on the Dec. 27 card at Fair Grounds, said he isn’t sure if he had a previous three-win day at his hometown track. If he did, he said, it happened more than 25 years ago.

About that long ago, Risen Star was making Roussel known nationally. In 1988, Risen Star, trained by Roussel and owned by him and Ronnie Lamarque, won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes en route to earning the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male.

“I think about him every day,” Roussel said. On a wall in his house are a Richard Stone Reeves portrait of Risen Star and pictures from his victories in the Preakness, Belmont, Louisiana Derby, Louisiana Derby Trial (now called the Risen Star), and Lexington Stakes.

Roussel, 67, who has 892 career victories, has trained more than 20 stakes winners – Kandaly, who won the Louisiana Derby in 1994, Irish Open, Timely Albert, Under Orders, and Belek among those who campaigned at Fair Grounds. Now, Roussel’s stable comprises 28 claiming and allowance horses.

“I haven’t had a stakes horse since Recapturetheglory and Mambo Galliano,” Roussel said.

Recapturetheglory won the Illinois Derby before finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby in 2008, and Mambo Galliano was the top sprinter at the 2010-11 Fair Grounds meet.

Roussel said he’d rather have 20 stakes horses in his barn.

“I may be crazy, but I’m not dumb,” he said.

But he’s finding ways to get blue-collar runners into the winner’s circle. Through Wednesday, Roussel’s horses had won 7 of 15 starts at the meet, and his win rate, 47 percent, was the highest among trainers with more than a handful of starts.

Roussel’s triple extended his streak of winners to five consecutive starters. It began with a victory by Youve Got a Friend in a two-turn maiden race for 2-year-old Louisiana-breds on Dec. 21. On Dec. 26, the gelding Dead On won for Roussel against $25,000 claimers in a two-turn race for 3-year-olds and up.

The next day, his winners were Run Right At It in a sprint for conditioned claimers, Mars Curiosity in an optional-claiming sprint for Louisiana-breds, and the veteran turf gelding Triple Check, who made a solid late run past optional-claiming rivals.

Calhoun clicking early at meeting

A 1-2 finish by Dixie Beat and Yankee Gambler in the $97,605 Louisiana Futurity on Tuesday gave trainer Bret Calhoun a lucrative boost to an already solid start at the meet.

Through Wednesday, Calhoun led the local trainers in purse earnings ($499,944). With 14 wins from 51 starts, he was tied for second in the standings with Tom Amoss, one win behind leader Steve Asmussen. Calhoun said he has missed opportunities for a few more wins.

“I thought I had some live horses that could have won, but races didn’t go,” he said.

An example is Yankee Gambler, whom Calhoun had entered recently for an allowance race, but it wasn’t run. Instead, he ran Yankee Gambler in the Louisiana Futurity. Yankee Gambler hadn’t raced since May, when he routed maidens at Lone Star Park in a 4 1/2-furlong race in his debut.

In a surprise to Calhoun, Dixie Beat showed more early speed than Yankee Gambler on Tuesday. Dixie Beat stalked pacesetter Forerun early, and Yankee Gambler settled off the pace – a reversal of the early positions that Calhoun said he expected from the pair.

“Those are two pretty nice horses,” said Calhoun, who is planning to point them to the seven-furlong Premier Night Prince on Feb. 1 at Delta Downs.

Son of a Preacher and Plug Catcher, who ran second and third behind Gold Hawk in a mile and 70-yard, first-level optional-claiming race Dec. 27, are possibilities for the Lecomte on Jan. 18, Calhoun said, though he’d prefer not to move those 3-year-olds directly to stakes company. He said he’s not optimistic that another two-turn allowance race will be run in mid-January.

“I’d like to be conservative with them, run in the allowance race and build their confidence,” he said.

His plans are indefinite for the 3-year-old filly Haunted Heroine. She defeated maidens Dec. 12 when stretching out to a mile and 70 yards in her third start. If there’s not an allowance race for her, she might run in the Silverbulletday on Jan. 18 or ship to Oaklawn Park for an allowance race, Calhoun said.

◗ Trainer Steven Duke scored a double with half-sisters Tuesday, winning the Louisiana Futurity for fillies with Nurse Emmielle and an optional-claiming race for fillies and mares with Dreamglider. “What a day the mare had,” Duke said. Dreamglider was the first foal out of Nurse Dyna, and Nurse Emmielle was that mare’s second foal, he said.

◗ Seventy-five horses are early bird nominees for the Louisiana Derby. The horses, including nine trained by Todd Pletcher, eight trained by Asmussen, and seven trained by D. Wayne Lukas, also are nominated for the Lecomte and Risen Star.