Risen Star: East Avenue back on his feet in run toward Derby
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The Grade 2, $500,000 Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds ushers in a new, more important round of Kentucky Derby prep races. Thirteen were entered in the Risen Star but only one might prove a serious Derby horse.
East Avenue is one of only two likely starters with a stakes victory of any import and his came in a Grade 1 romp. The 9-5 morning-line favorite, East Avenue will go off a shorter price than that in his 3-year-old debut, especially with the news that Jonathan’s Way, winner of the Grade 3 Iroquois in September, will be scratched from the Risen Star. Trainer Philip Bauer told Churchill Downs Inc. publicity that Jonathan’s Way had “an unsatisfactory blood count” that would keep the colt from racing.
Built has one performance among four starts suggesting he might be a Derby horse. He made an easy lead in the Gun Runner Stakes but did turn in a notably fast final three furlongs.
The other 10 require considerable improvement to make a dent in the Risen Star, the first race on Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby offering 105 qualifying points spread among the top five finishers. The 50 for finishing first will get a horse into the Derby.
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The Risen Star is the last of 14 races, post time set for 6:30 p.m. Central, after dark and just about the time rain could start falling. The rest of the card, if the forecast holds, should unfold on fast dirt and firm turf, and even the Risen Star stands a decent chance of beating the rain.
East Avenue stands more than a decent chance of beating the dozen opposing him if his first two starts provide a true measure.
A physically advanced Godolphin homebred, East Avenue had the brilliance to score a front-running sprint debut win by eight lengths, and he showed in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Futurity, his Grade 1, he can carry that speed.
But East Avenue as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile showed he’s not invulnerable. A bad stumble at the start took the colt entirely out of his game, and East Avenue chunked home ninth. Trainer Brendan Walsh doesn’t hesitate to entirely excuse the race owing to the stumble.
East Avenue hasn’t started in 3 1/2 months but won’t come into this nine-furlong contest a short horse. Walsh kept East Avenue in light training after the Breeders’ Cup, keeping his charge from getting too fresh and losing too much fitness. Walsh drew up a six-workout schedule leading into the Risen Star. East Avenue has checked every box.
“He’s maybe difficult to gauge because you can’t get to the bottom of him. He works and he doesn’t ever really get tired. He does stuff so easy, he comes back, he eats, he sleeps,” Walsh said.
If Tyler Gaffalione and East Avenue leave post 4 running, like they did in his first two races, East Avenue could be long gone. On paper, the only other horse with the speed to lead is rail-drawn American Promise, who notched a fast Oaklawn Park maiden win two races ago before a tough-trip sixth in the Southwest Stakes.
Built followed his Gun Runner with a considerably lesser showing Jan. 18 in the Lecomte. Though he finished a close second, the race came up slow, and Built struggled from the start with a sloppy, sealed surface. Connections initially planned to skip the Risen Star, but trainer Wayne Catalano said he’s confident Built, who gets a jockey change to Luis Saez, will regain top form on a fast track.
“We’re set up after two races and the other ones are coming off the bench running a mile and an eighth,” Catalano said.
Vassimo hasn’t beaten strong competition or run especially fast going 2 for 2 in Florida but has the look of a true route horse who should continue improving with maturation and more ground.
“We feel like the added distance should be to his liking,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I think he’s won both his races with something left in the tank, came to the wire with his ears pricked, seems like he’s not totally focused. This is a significant class test.”
Pletcher earlier this week was notified by Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, the drug enforcement arm of Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, that Vassimo had returned a positive test after his Gulfstream maiden win for the steroid betamethasone, a drug not permitted on race day.
Septarian adds blinkers for the Risen Star but looks light on both stamina and talent. Giocoso posted a scorching six-furlong work Feb. 1 that looks better on paper than video. Vamos Carlitos was claimed for just $40,000 two races ago but rallied encouragingly into a slow pace last out in a first-level, dirt-route allowance.
They aren’t beating East Avenue if he’s the horse he appears to be.
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