Risen Star split into two divisions
Twenty-three horses were entered Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes – and so there will be two Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes next Saturday at Fair Grounds.
Fair Grounds and its parent company, Churchill Downs Inc., had signaled about a week ago they’d be willing to run two Risen Star divisions with an ample number of entrants, and 23 was plenty. Both races will carry a $400,000 purse and offer 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, distributed 50-20-10-5 to the top four finishers. The Risen Star was lengthened from 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles for this renewal.
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Satisfyingly, the two most accomplished horses are in separate divisions: Enforceable, who won the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes in his most recent start, is one of 11 entrants in the first division, race 12. Enforceable breaks from post 8 under Julien Leparoux and probably will be a modest favorite. From the rail out the rest of this division includes Digital, one of four Bret Calhoun-trained horses in the two Risen Star fields; Silver State, who should be ready to improve on his Lecomte Stakes second-place finish; Ready To Roll; Perfect Revenge; Moon Over Miami, who was supplemented; Shashashakemeup; Blackberry Wine, who got a 94 Beyer Speed Figure beating Digital in a Jan. 18 two-turn dirt allowance race; Mr. Monomoy, third in the Lecomte; Farmington Road; and Scabbard.
Division 2, race 13, is headed by Anneau d’Or, who is scheduled to break from post 8 in his 3-year-old debut. Anneau d’Or is shipping in from Northern California for trainer Blaine Wright, is adding blinkers, and will have Joel Rosario in the saddle. Anneau d’Or took narrow losses in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Los Alamitos Futurity to end a promising 2-year-old season.
The other 11 in this division, from the rail out, are Modernist; Truculent, who is also entered in a Turfway Park race on Feb. 14; Mr. Big News; Fame to Famous; Liam’s Lucky Charm, who got a 91 Beyer Speed Figure winning the Pasco Stakes at Tampa last out; Excession; Major Fed; Lynn’s Map; one-eyed Finnick the Fierce; sharp Fair Grounds allowance winner Mailman Money; and NY Traffic.
Top to bottom, race 12 probably looks stronger than race 13.
Immediately preceding the two Risen Stars is the Grade 3, $300,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, where 2019 champion 2-year-old filly British Idiom will launch her 3-year-old campaign. British Idiom will be ridden by Javier Castellano and has six rivals: His Glory, Ursula, Swiss Skydiver, Impeccable Style, Tempers Rising, and Finite.
Synchrony is set to make his 6-year-old debut in the Fair Grounds Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf, but he didn’t scare anyone off, with 13 others entered in this Grade 3 worth $150,000. The $200,000 Mineshaft also got a surprisingly large number of entrants with 12 going into the 1 1/16-mile dirt race for older horses. The entrants include a pair of Florida shippers, Hofburg and Cutting Humor, as well as the locally based Silver Dust, who won the Louisiana Stakes last month, and Pirate’s Punch, who turned in a very strong local allowance performance last month but drew post 12.
The $100,000 Albert Stall Memorial, a filly-and-mare turf route, got 16 entries (14 can start), including 2019 winner Mitchell Road, while the Colonel Power Stakes, a turf sprint, drew 11 entrants.
The stakes are mainly full and competitive and the supporting maiden and allowance races – including a first-level dirt-route allowance for 3-year-olds – mainly are stuffed with horses. First post for what ought to be an excellent betting card is noon Central.
