Local Hero to make next start in Risen Star Stakes

The exciting Fair Grounds maiden winner Local Hero will make his next start Feb. 25 in the Risen Star Stakes, trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday.

Asmussen will have two runners in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star, with Untrapped joining Local Hero in what is shaping up as a very solid edition of the local Louisiana Derby prep race.

Local Hero, owned by Bob Edwards’s e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, twice was second in seven-furlong maiden races last fall in Kentucky but broke through in his first two-turn start when he won a Jan. 26 maiden race at Fair Grounds by 7 1/4 lengths. Under Florent Geroux, who is set to ride him again in the Risen Star, Local Hero set a strong pace while going comfortably and was geared down late, still earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure in a very encouraging performance.

Local Hero, who is by Hard Spun and out of a Saint Liam mare, worked five furlongs Sunday in company with the maiden Heartwood in 1:00.80.

“He’s training very impressive right now,” Asmussen said. “He worked great yesterday and came out of it 100 percent.”

Untrapped, going in company with the older horse Iron Fist, worked five furlongs Monday in 1:01.60. Asmussen said Ricardo Santana is booked to ride Untrapped again in the Risen Star. Untrapped, like Local Hero, made his two-turn debut in his first start at age 3, finishing a troubled second behind Guest Suite in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 21.

Guest Suite also is expected back for the Risen Star, as is Lecomte fourth-place finisher Arklow and the talented Girvin, who was second on turf in the Feb. 4 Keith Gee Memorial.