Fair Grounds: Vicar's in Trouble breezes toward Risen Star

Vicar’s in Trouble had his first timed workout since he won the Jan. 18 Lecomte by almost seven lengths, breezing a half-mile in company Feb. 2 in 49.40 seconds. Trained by Mike Maker for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, the Louisiana-bred by Into Mischief is an intended starter in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds on Feb. 22.

“He worked real nice, had a good gallop-out, came back well,” said Maker’s Fair Grounds assistant, Joe Sharp. “We’re right on course. He’ll have two more works before the Risen Star. We’re pretty much maintaining from here on out. He’s grown up a lot mentally this winter. He’s still maturing, and he still has a ways to go, but every week he gets a little better. He does everything we ask of him.”

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

◗ Fair Grounds’s Starlight Racing cards tend to be light on quality, but there are good races on the nine-race program this Friday. The opener is a second-level turf-route allowance also open to $40,000 claimers, the same conditions that govern race 4, a dirt sprint. Race 3 is a maiden special weight with some apparently talented entrants, and race 5 is another maiden special weight sprint, this one for 3-year-old fillies.