Louisiana Derby draws overflow field of 16

Sixteen horses were entered Saturday for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 21. Fourteen can start, and those in the main body of the field, from the rail out, are Major Fed, Mailman Money, Wells Bayou, Chestertown, Social Afleet, Shake Some Action, Sharecropper, Royal Act, Portos, Enforceable, Ny Traffic, Lynn’s Map, Silver State, and Modernist. Mr. Big News and Farmington Road are the two also-eligibles.

Until Saturday it appeared Royal Act, the Southern California-based colt who finished a solid second in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes last out, would be excluded from the main body of the Louisiana Derby field, but Ajaaweed, said on Friday by trainer Kiaran McLaughlin to be an intended starter, wasn’t entered.

The Louisiana Derby has been lengthened to 1 3/16 miles this year from 1 1/8 miles and starts with a long run down the homestretch before the field gets to the first of two turns. Still, the draw of post 14 for Modernist, who won the second, slower division of the Risen Star last month, will be challenging as will also be the case for Silver State in post 13. Silver State finished a good third in the first, faster division of the Risen Star, a race won by Mr. Monomoy, who subsequently was injured and taken out of training. Silver State was second in the Jan. 18 Lecomte Stakes to Enforceable, who finished just in front of him in the Risen Star and drew post 10 for the Louisiana Derby.

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Wells Bayou is a new and potentially important player in the Louisiana 3-year-old division, coming into the Louisiana after a good second-place finish behind Silver Prospector in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn. Wells Bayou, a front-running type of horse, drew post 2 and will be ridden by Florent Geroux for Brad Cox, the jockey-trainer combination that teamed to win the Risen Star with Mr. Monomoy. Cox also trains Shake Some Action, who won a maiden turf route two starts ago and a first-level allowance race over 1 1/8 miles on dirt in his most recent start. Sharecropper, who will be a Louisiana Derby longshot, finished fourth in that allowance race, a start he needed following a five-month layoff.

Lynn’s Map beat Mr. Monomoy in a December allowance race at Fair Grounds, ran below form in the Southwest at Oaklawn after being scratched from the Lecomte when he drew post 14, and ran a sneakily decent sixth in the second division of the Risen Star. Like Enforceable, he’s trained by Mark Casse.

Six 3-year-old fillies were entered in the Fair Grounds Oaks, a race clearly headed by Finite, who enters in a five-race winning streak and comes off the best performance of her career, a 4 3/4-lengths victory last month at Fair Grounds in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes. Absent from the Fair Grounds Oaks is 2019’s champion 2-year-old filly British Idiom, who was second to Finite in the Rachel Alexandra and apparently will make her next start in the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland. Her trainer, Brad Cox, entered Bonny South, who beat subsequent Honeybee Stakes-winner Shedaresthedevil in a Feb. 15 allowance race at Oaklawn. Bill Mott, Modernist’s trainer, entered Antoinette, who won the Tepin Stakes at Aqueduct in her most recent race.

Heading the nine-horse New Orleans Classic are two Bret Calhoun-trained horses, Silver Dust and By My Standards. Todd Pletcher, who has Portos for the Louisiana Derby, entered Fearless, who has started his career with two wins, including a last-out first-level dirt-route allowance route at Gulfstream Park.

The Muniz Memorial over nine furlongs on turf drew 13 entrants, including two very capable performers from the Chad Brown stable, Instilled Regard and Rockemperor. Factor This and Synchrony, who won the 2018 Muniz, also are among the entrants in a good renewal of the grass fixture.

The Louisiana Derby card, and all programs starting March 14 through the end of the meeting on March 29, will be run without spectators.