Mandaloun, wearing blinkers, takes step forward with Risen Star

Saturday had not been a great day at Fair Grounds for 2020’s Eclipse Award-winning trainer, Brad Cox. Secret Message was beaten as the favorite in the Albert Stall Memorial, Factor This as the favorite in the Fair Grounds Stakes, and Travel Column as the even-money chalk in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes.

Cox, though, has a spectacularly deep roster of runners at his disposal, and Mandaloun more than saved the day by winning the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths under Florent Geroux.

Even before Mandaloun made his stakes and two-turn debut last month in the Lecomte at Fair Grounds, where he finished third, Cox looked at him as a real prospect for the Kentucky Derby. Now, all Mandaloun must do is make it healthily to the first Saturday in May, as the 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points he earned winning the Risen Star will get him into the 20-horse Derby field.

The 1 1/8-mile Risen Star had several new players but turned out to be a near repeat of the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte, in which Midnight Bourbon beat Proxy and Mandaloun, the top three separated by about one length, the rest of the field far back. In the Risen Star, Proxy stayed on solidly to finish second, a half-length in front of Midnight Bourbon, who had pressed longshot pacesetter Rightandjust and taken over the lead in upper stretch before Mandaloun came and got him.

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Proxy earned 20 Derby qualifying points, Midnight Bourbon gained 10, and fourth-place O Besos received five.

Though Mandaloun lacked stakes and route seasoning in the Lecomte, Cox thought there was more to it than merely that and decided shortly after the Jan. 16 start to fit Mandaloun with blinkers for the Risen Star. The equipment change might have been a deciding factor.

“Blinkers on was a difference-maker today for sure,” Geroux said. “We knew he kind of needed it. He’s always been a little funny down the lane, never give me his full potential. When I pushed the gas today, he responded right away. He was a little more focused.”

Mandaloun was program number 11, broke from post 10, and got into the race from the start as Rightandjust crossed and cleared from the far outside gate. Geroux got stuck three paths wide around both turns but was always travelling in the clear, his mount in the bridle and responsive.

The first quarter-mile went in 23.65, the half in 48.45 as Mandaloun watched Midnight Bourbon hound Rightandjust. By the quarter pole, Midnight Bourbon had wrested the lead from Rightandjust, but Mandaloun quickly jumped on him, sticking his head in front at the three-sixteenths pole and gradually edging clear as Proxy, who saved ground until tipping wide for the stretch run, closed solidly to earn the place.

Winning time for the nine furlongs over a surface rated “fast” that seemed have slowed through the course of a six-hour, 22-minute card was 1:50.39. Mandaloun, the favorite, paid $6.20 to win, and got a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Nearly six lengths separated Midnight Bourbon and fourth-place O Besos, who ran creditably from mid-pack making his stakes and two-turn debut. O Besos was a head better than Senor Buscador, who was a nose in front of Rightandjust. Senor Buscador, the 5-2 second choice after a sharp score in the Springboard Mile, tried to loop the field from last with a big move around the far turn, but predictably flattened out and lost for the first time in three starts. Santa Cruiser, Sermononthemount, Starrininmydreams, Carillo, and Beep Beep completed the order of finish. Defeater and Keepmeinmind were scratched.

Mandaloun is a Juddmonte Farms homebred by Into Mischief out of Brooch, by Empire Maker, who won a Keeneland sprint in his career debut and a Churchill Downs 7-furlong allowance in his start before the Lecomte. Cox credited the experience of racing two turns last month, along with the blinkers, for moving Mandaloun forward.

“We didn’t put much of a [blinker] cup on him – just like one inch, but it seems to have done the job getting him mentally where he needs to be,” Cox said.

Garrett O’Rourke, general manager of Juddmonte Farms in North America, has told Cox that he sees Mandaloun as a 1 1/4-mile horse, and Cox said he sees that, too, in the colt’s training.

“He’s got enough speed to be close and he stays on,” Cox said. “He’s got the physical makeup of a mile-and-a-quarter horse, so we're optimistic he’ll get better with more ground.”

The 1 3/16-mile Louisiana Derby on March 20 figures to be Mandaloun’s next start. Then, all being well, on to the Derby, the 1 1/4-mile test that has the colt’s connections dreaming.