International Star back at favorite venue for Mineshaft

NEW ORLEANS – International Star has raced four times at Fair Grounds and won four times. He swept the dirt-route stakes series for 3-year-olds here last winter, capped by a narrow score in the Louisiana Derby, and rebounded from a dud of a long-layoff comeback race at Zia Park with a sharp victory last month in the Louisiana Stakes.

If owner Ken and Sarah Ramsey had it to do over again, they might rename the 4-year-old New Orleans Star.

International Star went back to Gulfstream Park following his Louisiana win, but he’s back at the place he loves best again Saturday for the Grade 3, $125,000 Mineshaft Handicap. Another race like his last one, and International Star will be one of the favorites for the New Orleans Handicap on March 26.

The Mineshaft, at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, goes as race 5, its position on the front of the card owing to a short field of just five entrants, with Jessica’s Star uncertain to start. Point Piper is in from California for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, but International Star’s main competition is likely to come from Eagle, whose three-race winning streak ended when International Star buzzed past him at the top of the stretch last month.

Neil Howard, who trains Eagle, is hopeful that his horse can turn the tables. That hope begins with a favorable shift in the weights: Under allowance conditions last month, Eagle gave International Star six pounds, but handicap weights Saturday have International Star at 121 and Eagle at 120.

“Over a route of ground, I think seven pounds means something,” said Howard.

Eagle returned from a long layoff last fall a stronger, more mature, and better horse. He leapt from a sprint comeback race to three straight two-turn wins, the last in the Tenacious Stakes here Dec. 19, but in the Louisiana Stakes, Eagle was in the midst of an awkward lead change when International Star roared by him at the top of the homestretch.

“He went by us so fast I think it kind of startled him,” Howard said. “That being said, I don’t think anybody was going to beat him that day, but I was happy with Eagle’s last race and the way he’s done. He worked beautifully the other day.”

International Star was scratched from the Kentucky Derby the morning of the race and didn’t start between the Louisiana Derby on March 28 and the Nov. 25 Zia Park Derby, where he finished a flat, distant fourth. Trainer Mike Maker thought International Star had trained like a horse ready for a strong comeback race, but it wasn’t until the Louisiana Stakes that International Star, who has a remarkable turn of foot for a dirt horse, ran to this training.

“He’s been great since that race, and I expect a duplicate effort,” Maker said. “He’s on top of his game right now.”

Majestic Harbor should set the pace from the rail, but after contesting moderate fractions in the Louisiana Stakes, he faded to finish a distant fifth. Point Piper was sixth last out in the Grade 2 San Pasqual, and even at his very best, he might not be up to the task of tackling International Star at his beloved Fair Grounds.

Speed vs. closer in Kenner

Cinco Charlie is going to the front, and Clearly Now is coming from the back, and it’s likely that one of those two will get to the finish first in the $60,000 Duncan Kenner, a six-furlong dash with leading horses who ought to be running for a six-figure purse.

Cinco Charlie came within a nose of winning the Grade 2 Woody Stephens over seven furlongs on the Belmont Stakes undercard, then didn’t race again until Jan. 15, when he shipped from Fair Grounds to Oaklawn and faded to sixth as the favorite in a high-end sprint allowance race.

“He did not run his race at Oaklawn, and I hope it was simply the racetrack,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “He’s trained wonderful, and I’m excited.”

Cinco Charlie has the rail and Florent Geroux and has only an apparently overmatched Vigorous Titan as a pace rival. He has four wins and two thirds from six starts at six furlongs, including a victory in the Sugar Bowl Stakes last winter here.

Clearly Now, privately purchased last year by the Brittlyn Stables and turned over to trainer Ron Faucheux, lacked positional speed and got going too late while racing over a speed-biased strip and finishing third in the Thanksgiving Handicap, his first start for his new connections. But jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. put Clearly Now into a Jan. 23 allowance race much earlier, and Clearly Now responded with a 3 1/4-length score.

“We’ve gotten to know him better,” said Faucheux. “We’ve worked on some things in the morning, like his lead changes, that I think have helped him.”