Lukas, Stevens together again with Bravazo in Louisiana Derby

NEW ORLEANS – In 1988, George H.W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis in the presidential election, the Redskins won the Super Bowl, Sonny Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs, and Winning Colors won the Kentucky Derby, with 25-year-old jockey Gary Stevens riding for 52-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

A lot has happened in the 30 years since then, but Stevens and Lukas – both long enshrined in the Hall of Fame – are still going strong and are one race away from reuniting for another try at the Derby.

“We’ve outlasted ’em,” Lukas said Thursday.

They’ll try to outrace ’em on Saturday here at Fair Grounds with Bravazo, who won the Risen Star last month and makes a return visit to the Big Easy for the meet’s championship race for 3-year-olds, the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby.

The Louisiana Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, begins the round of races with the highest point values toward the May 5 Derby at Churchill Downs, with 100 to the winner, 40 for second, 20 for third, and 10 for fourth. Bravazo already has banked 54 points – 50 from the Risen Star – putting him safely in the field. So, while it’s important for Bravazo to maintain his form and continue to progress, the race takes on far more importance for those needing a big effort to assure a spot in the starting gate six weeks hence on the first Saturday in May.

As a result, 10 horses are entered in the race, and they’re coming from everywhere. The runners made their last starts at Oaklawn and Tampa in addition to Fair Grounds, but several – like potential favorite My Boy Jack – took a more circuitous route. My Boy Jack is based in California but ran last time at Oaklawn, returned to Santa Anita to train, and now has traveled here.

Forty percent of the field exits the Risen Star. Bravazo won that race by a nose over Snapper Sinclair, with Noble Indy third and Givemeaminit eighth. It was a strangely run race in that the pace was far slower than the Rachel Alexandra Stakes for fillies earlier on the card and resulted in little movement throughout the 1 1/16 miles. With Noble Indy adding blinkers and pace pressers like Dark Templar, Hyndford, and Retirement Fund added to the lineup, this race has the potential to have a far more legitimate pace.

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Bravazo has won both his starts this year, with an allowance win at Oaklawn preceding the Risen Star. Both were narrow wins.

“He’s got the characteristic of being kind of a fighter,” Lukas said Thursday from Oaklawn, where he is based at this time of year and where Bravazo has trained for more than two months. “He doesn’t give up easy.”

Miguel Mena rode Bravazo in the Risen Star, but he was injured in an accident here last week and is out for perhaps six months, so Stevens – who rode Bravazo at Oaklawn – was the natural replacement, Lukas said.

Snapper Sinclair was third in the Lecomte before suffering a brutal beat in the Risen Star. Jose Ortiz, last year’s Eclipse Award-winning jockey, takes over.

“He’s a colt who’s done well physically all winter,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “He’s gotten stronger, put on weight. I’m hoping and expecting him to run the race of his life, and he’ll need it.”

Asmussen also sends out Retirement Fund, who won maiden and allowance races earlier this meet before finishing seventh of 10 at Oaklawn on a muddy, sealed track in the Southwest, more than 19 lengths behind My Boy Jack.

“Big puzzle,” Asmussen said. “He caught an off track at Oaklawn, so we’ll regroup and run over a track where he’s 2 for 2.”

My Boy Jack loved the surface at Oaklawn and came up a rail that seemed the best part of the track that day. In his only two-turn try on a fast track, he was third in the Sham, more than seven lengths behind McKinzie.

Noble Indy was making his stakes debut in the Risen Star and finished two lengths behind Bravazo and Snapper Sinclair. The blinkers should put him right into the race from the start.

Noble Indy’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, also runs Hyndford, who was intended for the Sunland Derby on Sunday but did not get in. Hyndford was second to Pletcher’s highly regarded Magnum Moon last time out in an allowance race at Tampa, from which Magnum Moon exited to win last week’s Rebel at Oaklawn.

Givemeaminit could be a live longshot. A late runner, he had no chance in the Risen Star the way the race unfolded, and in his only prior start with blinkers – a sprint – he easily dusted a much softer field. In addition, Javier Castellano takes over.

Dark Templar and Lone Sailor were one-two in an allowance last month. Marmello is an 0-for-2 maiden.

The Louisiana Derby is race 11 on a 14-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Central and has eight stakes. It is the final leg of an all-stakes pick four preceded by three other compelling Grade 2 races – the New Orleans Handicap for older dirt horses, the Muniz Memorial for older grass horses, and the Fair Grounds Oaks for Kentucky Oaks aspirants.

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