Fair Grounds: Rise Up targets Risen Star; Unknown Road gelded

On Sunday, trainer Tom Amoss sent out Rise Up for a half-mile work in 49.80 seconds, the colt’s first breeze since he won the $1 million Delta Jackpot on Nov. 23 by six lengths.

Rise Up was freshened at a Florida farm for much of December before rejoining Amoss’s Fair Grounds stable. His connections are targeting the Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 22 for Rise Up’s first start at 3.

“His work went well, and things will get more intense as he goes forward now,” Amoss said.

Unknown Road gelded

Unknown Road, the promising 3-year-old colt who finished fourth as the 1-5 favorite in an allowance race last Friday, was sent to the equine clinic at Louisiana State University this week to be gelded because he is a bilateral cryptorchid, meaning the colt has two undescended testicles.

Unknown Road, a sharp maiden winner Dec. 19 in his first start for trainer Al Stall, already was known to be a ridgling, and his connections, unable to find a specific reason for his subpar performance Friday, looked more closely into the issue following the race.

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Undescended testicles can cause pain and inhibit top performance in racehorses. Stall said if the surgery goes smoothly, Unknown Road could resume training within a few weeks.