Fair Grounds: Sunbean a standout among statebreds in Star Guitar
The $60,000 Star Guitar Stakes, the Saturday feature at Fair Grounds, is the perfect time to pose the question: Is Sunbean the next Star Guitar?
Star Guitar has a race named for him because, after winning 24 of 30 starts in a career that ended in June 2012, he retired after earning more purse money, $1.74 million, than any other Louisiana-bred in history. And on the surface, at least, the parallels to Sunbean are obvious.
Both were bred and owned by the Brittlyn Stables of Maurice and Evelyn Benoit, and both horses, while unrelated, trace several generations back to mares the Benoits acquired during the early days of their involvement with Thoroughbreds.
But there are key differences, too. Star Guitar, by Quiet American, debuted at age 2 and was a talented juvenile, but by the time his 4-year-old season came around, Star Guitar had raced only six times. It was at 4, though, that he really got rolling, winning 7 of 9 starts and asserting himself as easily the leading Louisiana-bred of his generation.
After 12 starts – the number Sunbean has made going into Saturday’s race – Star Guitar had won nine times. He was 6 for 6 in Louisiana-bred competition, and had won seven stakes. His forays into open stakes competition were mixed: Star Guitar finished seventh in the 2009 New Orleans Handicap, but was a solid third in the Grade 3 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill that spring and easily won the $148,000 Evangeline Mile that summer. His Beyer Speed Figure in the Evangeline Mile was 101, that after Star Guitar had gotten a 108 a month before in one of his typical open-lengths victories in a Louisiana-bred stakes.
Sunbean, a gelding, is in the early phase of his 4-year-old campaign. He won his only start this year, the $200,000 Premier Championship at Delta, by four lengths, his seventh victory from 12 starts. Sunbean finished second by a nose in his career debut in December 2012, but has since gone 7 for 7 in Louisiana-bred races, including a 5-for-5 mark in statebred-restricted stakes.
His efforts in open competition have not gone especially well: Sunbean was eighth in the Louisiana Derby while making his last start for trainer Al Stall, who had trained Star Guitar for Brittlyn; fifth in the Lexington; sixth in the Matt Winn, and second by a head as the 1-2 favorite in the $100,000 Prelude Stakes last summer at Louisiana Downs.
Trained for his last five races by Ron Faucheux, Sunbean figures to make hay against Louisiana-breds throughout the year, and his bankroll already is almost at a half-million dollars. He could bank a couple-hundred thousand more this season, however, and still have a long way to go to approach Star Guitar’s career earnings mark.
As for the Star Guitar Stakes, Sunbean is a realistic 3-5 on the track’s morning line, and from all appearances a superior horse to his five rivals. If any value is to be extracted from the race, it might lie in playing long-layoff comeback horse Johnny Handsome underneath Sunbean in exotic wagers.
