Sunbean likely to run in Louisiana Champions Day Classic

Entries for Saturday’s Louisiana Champions Day card at Fair Grounds were taken this past Friday, and Sunbean, one of the leading lights of Louisiana-bred racing, was cross-entered in the $100,000 Turf and the $150,000 Classic. But trainer Ron Faucheux said Saturday that Sunbean “more than likely” would wind up in the Classic, and that the Turf would be considered as an option only if the race were moved to the main track because of wet conditions.

In August, Sunbean won the Louisiana Cup Turf Classic at Louisiana Downs, but he is a more accomplished dirt horse and a two-time winner (2013 and 2014) of the Champions Day Classic.

Sunbean, a 6-year-old gelding bred and owned by Brittlyn Stable, has won 16 of 26 races and more than $1.17 million during a very successful career that was interrupted for more than a year because of a tendon injury. Sunbean came out of a race in February 20015 with the tendon problem, and spent months in Kentucky receiving stem-cell therapy for the problem. He returned to racing a little more than a year later, and while he has not come all the way back to his best form from 2014, Sunbean has won 3 of 5 starts, all Louisiana-bred stakes, since his return.

“We’ve ultrasounded him several times, and the fibers in the tendon look as strong as ever,” Faucheux said. “There’s no indication of any tear at all. We try to take it easy on him. He trains himself so hard. Once he gets fit, he stays fit, puts so much into his daily gallops. He still loves his job. As long as he’s happy and healthy, we’ll keep running him.”

Faucheux also said another Brittlyn runner, Clearly Now, would make his next start Jan. 21 in the $75,000 Duncan Kenner Stakes. Clearly Now returned from a layoff of more than seven months to finish a good third behind sharp winner Yockey’s Warrior in the Thanksgiving Handicap. The 6-year-old Clearly Now got a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance, his best figure since September 2015.

“I think he’s back on his ‘A’ game now,” said Faucheux.

◗ Several of the Champions Day races drew discouragingly short fields. The Turf got just eight entrants, and will go with seven if Sunbean races in the Classic. Only six horses were entered in the Ladies, there are just eight in the Lassie, and if Mageez runs in the Turf, the Classic will have just five runners.

◗ There are no allowance races – only tough-to-figure-races at lower cl