Gantry shows a hint of his old self in Thursday allowance win

NEW ORLEANS – There’s life in those old legs yet, Gantry showed Thursday, when he rallied past solid allowance foes on turf to win for the first time since March.

A 7-year-old gelding with career earnings of more than $800,000, Gantry had been off form since winning the Colonel Power Stakes at the end of the last Fair Grounds meet. Returning from a five-month layoff in the Thanksgiving Handicap, he ran a nonthreatening fifth, his third consecutive subpar performance.

But trainer Ron Faucheux said in the winner’s circle Thursday that he never lost confidence in Gantry, who ran about 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.53 to defeat Unbridled’s Note by a length. There were three graded stakes winners – Gantry, Unbridled’s Note, and Sum of the Parts – in the seven-horse field.

“I knew he had it in him,” Faucheux said. “Just training him up to the last race, he wasn’t fit. The wheel-back was what he needed. He’s back on his game. I think that race woke him up.”

Faucheux said turf is more kind to Gantry, whose next races likely will be on that surface.

Also on Thursday, a race for 2-year-old maidens produced a possible Lecomte Stakes runner. Tiznow R J, trained by Steve Asmussen, led all the way, running a mile and 70 yards in 1:43.71 to win by 13 1/4 lengths.

It was the first two-turn race for Tiznow R J, a Tiznow colt who finished third in one-mile races at Churchill Downs in his first two starts. In September, he lost by a neck to Keen Ice, the eventual third-place finisher in the Remsen Stakes. On Nov. 13, Tiznow R J had a rough trip and lost by 7 1/2 lengths.

“He didn’t break in his last [race],” Asmussen said. “It put him in a bad spot. He did it smooth today. He’s got talent.”

The Lecomte on Jan. 17 is a possibility for Tiznow R J, Asmussen said.