NEW ORLEANS – The historic Fair Grounds Race Course basically burned to the ground in 1993. The current facility, lacking the old building’s musty charm, opened in 1997. The track itself did not change, renowned for having the longest homestretch in North America, and Paladin needed nearly every one of the stretch’s 1,346 feet to wear down pacesetting Chip Honcho to win the Risen Star Stakes here on Saturday. The result was not at all surprising: Paladin, an early Kentucky Derby favorite, followed a debut win and a victory in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes with a popular Risen Star score, paying $3.40 as the 7-10 favorite. That Chip Honcho put up such a fight for so long -- that was somewhat surprising. Sent off the 7-1 fourth choice and racing with blinkers removed after a tough trip last month in the Lecomte Stakes, Chip Honcho had a new rider Saturday in Luis Saez, who came into the Risen Star with a plan: Make the lead with a horse who had pulled too hard his last two races, and get his mount into a good rhythm. Done, and done. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Chip Honcho didn’t break especially well, but he found the front and the rail well before the first turn. Meanwhile, Plan A for Tyler Gaffalione, riding Paladin for the first time, fell apart quite quickly. Gaffalione, breaking from post 4, planned to try for an outside trip, sitting just behind Carson Street and Chip Honcho. “I didn’t expect Brad’s horse to show that much speed,” Gaffalione said. The Brad Cox-trained Quality Mischief broke better than he ever had and indeed showed surprising speed, and Gaffalione found the horse blocking his desired trip into the first turn, Paladin was stuck between horses. Quality Mischief held his spot, and midway around the bend Courting loomed up behind Paladin, keeping Gaffalione hemmed in, but when Courting lost momentum, Gaffalione steered to the outside and into the trip he desired all along. The quarter-mile went in 23.81, the half in a solid 47.49, three quarters in 1:11.53, and Chip Honcho was not going anywhere. Trainer Steve Asmussen came into the race believing that Chip Honcho, despite some signs to the contrary, could stay the Risen Star’s nine furlongs, but he could not have known that the Fair Grounds dirt track would tilt so strongly toward inside speed Saturday. In race after race, front-runners never wavered, and at the quarter pole, turning for home, Gaffalione got very busy on Paladin, asking his mount to go hard after the leader. The leader was not stopping. To the three-sixteenths, the eighth pole, a half-furlong remaining: Some among the Asmussen team, watching from trackside, exhorted their stable’s horse, begged for the finish to come: “Where’s the wire?!” It did not come soon enough. Paladin won by a half-length, clocking a good 1:49.14, the third-fastest among eight Risen Stars since the race was lengthened to its current distance. Chip Honcho finished 5 1/2 lengths clear of Golden Tempo, the Lecomte winner who lost for the first time in three starts. As in his maiden sprint win and the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte, Golden Tempo broke all right, but immediately dropped to the rear of the field. He ran his fourth quarter-mile in a field-best 24.65 while passing several horses, and finished things off with a final furlong in 12:52, bested only by Paladin’s 12.43. But Golden Tempo can’t win big races ceding so much early ground, and only a few minutes after the Risen Star, trainer Cherie DeVaux said she planned to fit Golden Tempo with blinkers for his next start. Fourth-place Universe, 1 3/4 lengths behind Golden Tempo, bounced back from a dull race last out at Oaklawn Park. Carson Street, who finished fifth, was outrun for the early lead by Chip Honcho and never reached real contention. Courting, who looked disinterested in the paddock and post parade, didn’t improve at all in his first start with blinkers, checking in a flat sixth, beating only Quality Mischief and Colt Forty Seven. The first five finishers earned 110 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby distributed 50, 25, 15, 10, and 5. The Risen Star top three now lead the points standings; Paladin with 60 points will make the field, as should Chip Honcho, who has 39, while Golden Tempo boosted his total to 25. Trainer Chad Brown won the Risen Star for the second time in three years and can harbor real hope that Paladin can go one place better in the Kentucky Derby than Sierra Leone, who finished second in the Derby after winning the Risen Star and the Blue Grass at Keeneland. Paladin already has two wins over 1 1/8 miles, will stay the Derby’s 1 1/4 miles as well as anyone, and has the tactical pace to keep out of trouble. By Gun Runner out of Secret Sigh, by Tapit, Paladin races for Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter Brant, and Brook Smith. Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Equine, he brought $1.9 million as the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sale at Saratoga. The Churchill Downs homestretch at 1,234 feet doesn’t stretch as far as Fair Grounds’, but it’s long, and if Paladin, already a two-time winner over 1 1/8 miles, continues developing, he’ll come thundering down it early on the evening of May 2. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.