Louisiana Downs: Super Derby next for Trubs

Trubs is headed to the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs following his determined win over favorite Populist Politics in last Saturday’s $100,000 Prelude Stakes. With the score he earned a free berth into the richest race of the meet, which will head a card of six stakes Sept. 10.

“We’re going to have a couple of little workouts and go straight to the race,” said Al Stall Jr., the trainer of Trubs who will be seeking his third Super Derby win behind Apart in 2010 and My Pal Charlie in 2008.

Trubs earned a career-high Beyer Figure of 88 for his Prelude win Saturday. He settled in third behind dueling leaders in the 1 1/16-mile race, overtook them into the stretch, then came back along the inside when passed by Populist Politics. It was Trubs’s first start as a gelding, and his first out in four months as he had last raced April 6.

“My crew down at Louisiana Downs, led by Pam Fitzgerald, clearly had this horse ready to go,” Stall said from Saratoga. “There was a lot to like about the race. The horse has made a dramatic turnaround after his castration in May in the way he’s trained, so that’s why we were excited to run him. He ran like he trained.”

Shane Sellers was aboard Trubs for owners Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider and has the mount in the Super Derby.

The Prelude was the second stakes win for Trubs, who took the $58,000 Black Gold at Fair Grounds in February. He has been based at Louisiana Downs all meet, and that might work to his advantage in the Super Derby, said Stall. Blazing temperatures have had a grip on north Louisiana, north Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma for an extended period of time this summer, with the high last Saturday reaching 104 degrees in Bossier City, where Louisiana Downs is located.

“I think the heat will be a big factor this year in the Super Derby because they moved it a little bit,” Stall said. “They moved it up two or three weeks, to the week after Labor Day.

“So, he’s there and he’s acclimated.”

And ready for the Super Derby.

Plans on hold for Populist Politics

The next-race plans for Populist Politics, who was second by three-quarters of a length in the Prelude, are to be determined, said his trainer, Tom Amoss. Populist Politics, who is a multiple stakes winner against Louisiana-breds, shipped in from Churchill Downs for the Prelude and is back in Kentucky.

“He came back fine,” Amoss said Tuesday.

There are two upcoming races for Populist Politics’s division at Louisiana Downs, the $75,000 Louisiana Cup Derby for statebreds Aug. 20, and the Super Derby. Amoss said he was unlikely to run Populist Politics in either race, but he would not rule them out.

The Louisiana Cup Derby is part of a card of statebred stakes at Louisiana Downs, and Amoss has two horses for the program. He said Little Polka Dot is being pointed for the $60,000 Louisiana Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. She will be seeking her fifth straight win when she starts in the race. Earlier this year, she won the Unbridled Sydney at Churchill Downs and the Louisiana Showcase Lady at Evangeline Downs.

Raiseanothergator, a 2-year-old who won a maiden special weight at Indiana Downs in his debut June 22, is being pointed for the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile, said Amoss. Raiseanothergator is a full brother to past Louisiana Cup Derby winner Dynapac.

◗ Louisiana Downs reported handle on its Prelude program from all sources was $1.4 million, up 9.7 percent from the corresponding card in 2010. Of that amount, $242,126 was bet ontrack, up 20 percent. The Prelude, one of four stakes on the card, was run about three weeks earlier this year because of the new date for the Super Derby.