Track Phantom draws post 11 for Risen Star

The Risen Star Stakes, drawn a week in advance Saturday at Fair Grounds, attracted a field of 12, more than befitting the year’s first 105-point qualifying race toward the 150th Kentucky Derby.

Competition in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star runs deep and begins with Track Phantom, the leading 3-year-old at Fair Grounds after a pair of decisive wins in the Dec. 23 Gun Runner Stakes and the Jan 20. Lecomte Stakes. Track Phantom drew post 11, not ideal, but hardly a kiss of death considering the long run to the first turn in this 1 1/8-mile contest and Track Phantom’s ample early speed.

Joel Rosario, who rode Track Phantom in his maiden win last fall at Churchill Downs and in the Lecomte, retains the mount for trainer Steve Asmussen. Rosario also rode the Asmussen-trained Hall of Fame to a maiden route win on the Lecomte undercard. Ricardo Santana Jr. will pick up the mount on Hall of Fame, whose maiden score was strong enough to earn a spot in the Risen Star. Hall of Fame, a regular work partner with Track Phantom, drew post 7 and is another pace factor.

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Sierra Leone is one of several horses shipping from Florida and could vie for favoritism, racing for the first time since Dec. 2. Sierra Leone won his debut Nov. 4 in a one-turn Aqueduct maiden, a race that has proved very productive, and returned with an excellent, closing second in the Grade 2 Remsen over 1 1/8 miles. Tyler Gaffalione picks up the mount for Chad Brown, who trains Sierra Leone for the Coolmore connections that also own Hall of Fame.

Honor Marie, like Sierra Leone, makes his 3-year-old debut after ending his 2-year-old campaign with a strong closing kick, carrying him to victory in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs. Honor Marie, the mount of Rafael Bejarano, drew post 3 and has been based at Fair Grounds since early December for trainer Whit Beckman.

Real Men Violin, second in the KJC, also runs in the Risen Star, as does Catching Freedom, a last-out winner of the Smarty Jones on Jan. 1 at Oaklawn Park. Catching Freedom’s trainer, Brad Cox, runs the colt who appeared to be his leading Fair Grounds 3-year-old, Nash, in an allowance race earlier on the card.

Trainer Todd Pletcher entered two in the Risen Star, Moonlight and Cardinale, with Moonlight cross-entered in the same allowance as Nash. Pletcher, based at Palm Beach Downs in Florida, entered four 3-year-olds on the card, with the impressive Aqueduct debut winner Tuscan Sky also in the allowance race, and first-time starters Granthor and Antiquarian debuting in races 7 and 9, respectively. Cardinale won his debut and was a close second in a first-level allowance race.

Resilience, a Florida-based last-start maiden winner trained by Bill Mott, also makes the trip, with local horses Bee Dancer, Awesome Ruta, and Tizzy Indy rounding out the field. The first five Risen Star finishers earn 50, 25, 15, 10, and 5 Derby qualifying points.

Immediately preceding the Risen Star, the last of 14 races, is the Grade 2, $300,000 Rachel Alexandra, a 105-point Kentucky Oaks qualifier heavy on Brad Cox-trained runners. Cox has three of the six entrants, including Alpine Princess, winner of the Dec. 23 Untapable; West Omaha, winner of the Jan. 20 Silverbulletday; and Tarifa, a smart Jan. 20 allowance race winner.

The Cox trio must deal with the talented Intricate, who makes her first start since winning the Grade 2 Golden Rod on Nov. 25 at Churchill by more than five lengths. The other entrants are V V’s Dream, who topped out as a 2-year-old with a good second behind Candied in the Grade 1 Alcibiades, and Silverbulletday runner-up Perfect Shot.

The marathon card, which starts at noon Central and spans more than six hours, includes a pair of Grade 3s for older horses, the Mineshaft on dirt and the Fair Grounds on turf, and two other grass stakes, the 1 1/16-mile Albert Stall Memorial for older fillies and mares, and the Colonel Power, an older-horse turf sprint.

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