Fair Grounds: Tapiture, Gold Hawk target separate stakes

Mondays typically are busy work days in the Steve Asmussen barn, and this week at Fair Grounds was no exception, with Asmussen putting most of his top horses in New Orleans through timed breezes.

Among the workers were Asmussen’s two leading 3-year-old hopes: Tapiture worked six furlongs in 1:12.80, and Gold Hawk went five-eighths in a snappy 1:00.60.

Tapiture, who worked alone, is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut Feb. 17 at Oaklawn Park in the Southwest Stakes, and Asmussen said he plans to ship Tapiture from Fair Grounds on Saturday and give the colt his final Southwest work at Oaklawn on Wednesday, Feb. 12,

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

Tapiture’s lone win came in his fourth start, when he captured the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths. None of Tapiture’s three losses were poor, and he debuted at Saratoga last summer with a solid second-place finish behind elite 2-year-old Strong Mandate, who also is scheduled to start in the Southwest.

Gold Hawk is staying at Fair Grounds to contest the Feb. 22 Risen Star, and Asmussen remains hopeful Gold Hawk will bounce back from a one-paced third-place finish more than seven lengths behind victorious Vicar’s In Trouble in the Jan. 18 Lecomte Stakes. Gold Hawk’s five-furlong drill Monday was the fastest work he has posted at Fair Grounds, where Gold Hawk won a Dec. 27 first-level, two-turn allowance race less than four weeks after a debut win at Churchill Downs.

“I like how he bounced out of [the Lecomte],” Asmussen said. “That was his third race in six weeks. He’s young-minded, and he took a little step back, but I expect him to be right back in the program.”

Also working Monday were Daddy Nose Best and Prayer for Relief, older Asmussen-trained horses respectively targeting the Fair Grounds Handicap and the Mineshaft Handicap on Feb. 22 at Fair Grounds.

On Sunday, Asmussen sent the 3-year-old filly Untapable out for a five-furlong solo drill in 1:01, her third Fair Grounds work since arriving from California, where she finished third Dec. 7 in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet. Asmussen said Untapable, scheduled to work in company next week, remains on track to start in the Rachel Alexandra, another Feb. 22 stakes race at Fair Grounds.