Stall tries to get motor running after slow start to meet

Almost everything went right for trainer Al Stall in the early stages of the last two Fair Grounds meetings.

From the Nov. 18 start of the 2016-17 meet through Dec. 15, 2016, Stall’s record at Fair Grounds was 20-7-3-1. During the same period last year, his stable really crushed it, going 38-11-9-2. So far this season? Twenty-one starts, zero winners, eight seconds, and three thirds.

Almost everything has been going wrong: Poor post positions and poor starts have produced more failures in New Orleans than have strictly poor performances.

“Things definitely could go better – things you can’t control,” said Stall.

More chances are coming, both at Fair Grounds and farther afield.

In New Orleans, Stall has the talented but fragile Tom’s d’Etat on course to start in the $75,000 Tenacious Stakes on Dec. 16. Ability has never been in question regarding Tom’s d’Etat, but a month away from turning 6 he’s made only eight starts. During the summer of 2017, Tom’ d’Etat won a Saratoga allowance race by nine lengths, getting a 106 Beyer Speed Figure, and was pointed to the Woodward Stakes when he came up with an injury that kept him from racing again until this past Nov. 4. He won his comeback at Churchill, a high-level allowance race, by more than seven lengths and has been “doing great,” Stall said, since shipping to Fair Grounds.

Stall is readying the 3-year-old filly Minit to Stardom for the Dec. 8 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Sprint, which would be her first start since she finished sixth at odds of 7-2 in the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 4 at Saratoga. Minit to Stardom “wasn’t out of training that long” and has been working sharply for her comeback.

Stall said he plans to send the 3-year-old colt Bobby’s Wicked One to the Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes, a seven-furlong age-restricted race Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. Bobby’s Wicked One was injured in the spring, finished second in a Keeneland allowance race making his comeback in October, and on Nov. 19 was second by a nose to Trigger Warning in a roughly run edition of the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint. Trigger Warning later was euthanized as a result of injuries sustained in the race.

Finally, Stall reported that the fine sprinter Yockey’s Warrior, last seen winning the Duncan Kenner Stakes last January at Fair Grounds, has been retired and is standing stud in Louisiana. Six-year-old Yockey’s Warrior, by Warrior’s Reward, won 8 of 15 starts and more than $350,000. Stall was preparing him for the Count Fleet Stakes at Oaklawn last spring when Yockey’s Warrior “got a little thickening in his leg” that never subsided.