Mr. Al's Gal more than simply a bargain

There’s a horse with a Cinderella story running in Friday night’s eighth race at Delta Downs: Mr. Al’s Gal.

She was a $1,000 purchase at auction as a yearling and has since won six stakes and earned $448,980. But, there are more layers to her tale.

Mr. Al’s Gal is named for the late father of her 35-year-old trainer, Justin Jeansonne. Al Jeansonne was a longtime owner and trainer who died in 2015.

“My owners wanted to buy an unnamed horse so I could name the horse after him,” Jeansonne said of Rodney Virgadamo and Keith Bonura. “They were my dad’s old owners. They let me do a lot of the shopping.”

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Jeansonne landed on a daughter of Salute the Sarge he later named Mr. Al’s Gal. Bred in Louisiana, she won her career debut in 2016 at Evangeline Downs and two starts later romped by 12 3/4 lengths in the $100,000 Louisiana Futurity at Fair Grounds.

“She was my first stakes horse – my first allowance horse,” said Jeansonne.

Following the Louisiana Futurity win, Brittlyn Stable purchased Mr. Al’s Gal and kept her in training with Jeansonne. The filly never missed a beat for her new ownership, winning two more stakes – both at Delta – as part of a five-race win streak.

Mr. Al’s Gal on Friday night will break from the rail in an optional $20,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at seven furlongs. She is a surprise in the open-company race, which falls a day before the Louisiana Champions stakes card at Fair Grounds. Mr. Al’s Gal is one of the top Louisiana-breds in training, but the move to run Friday night is deliberate, said Jeansonne. Mr. Al’s Gal enters off a seventh-place finish in the $50,000 Tom Benson Memorial on Nov. 15 at Fair Grounds, her first start since June 22. She dueled on the lead for a good portion of the turf race, run at about a mile.

“I’m just kind of looking to get her confidence back up, give her a bounce-back race before we enter in another stakes,” Jeansonne said.

“When she gets her confidence built up and she becomes the happy horse that she is, it’s real tough to beat her. She’s older now, but she’s never really lost a step since she was a 2-year-old.”

Mr. Al’s Gal, a 4-year-old who is 9 for 17, has the $125,000 Premier Night Distaff on Feb. 9 at Delta as her next stakes objective, said Jeansonne. He looks for a good performance from her Friday.

“She came out of the last race fine,” he said. “She’s been eating up, training good. After being off that long – she never really had a break like that before – she just exhausted herself.

“She loves Delta Downs. She loves an off track at Delta and a fast track at Delta.”

Diego Saenz has the mount from the rail Friday.

Jeansonne, who won his first race as a trainer in 2013 at Evangeline Downs, has divisions of his stable at Delta and Fair Grounds. He was born in Chalmette, La., which is south of New Orleans, and was introduced to racing by his father.

“I grew up going to the races,” said Jeansonne. “I couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving Day to go to the Fair Grounds. It’s in the blood.”

Jeansonne said he spent 12 years in various roles on the track before he began training on his own. His stable has grown to include more horses from Brittlyn, one of the most successful owners in Louisiana. Jeansonne also continues to train for Virgadamo and Bonura. The men will team with Scat At Ms. Pat’s in Friday night’s second race at Delta. It is a conditioned allowance for 2-year-old fillies bred in Louisiana, and Jeansonne looks for it to serve as her springboard to the $100,000 fillies division of the Louisiana Futurity on Dec. 29 at Fair Grounds.

Jeansonne’s first stakes win came in the 2016 Louisiana Futurity with Mr. Al’s Gal and he won the fillies division again last year with Iona Star for Brittlyn.