Well-rested pair impresses in allowance

The 5-year-old horse Corporate Power came into Thursday’s seventh race at Fair Grounds with a recency edge over his Steve Asmussen-trained stablemate, Conquest Warrior, another 5-year-old.

Corporate Power had last raced in November 2024, finishing fifth in the Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct. Conquest Warrior, meanwhile, raced for the first time since checking in a distant fourth behind Fierceness in the 2024 Florida Derby.

In the Thursday feature, Conquest Warrior made a sharp move off the far turn of a 1 1/16-mile allowance race to take the lead, but Corporate Power overhauled him – a one-two finish for two horses who hadn’t started in forever.

“We were showing some patience with them,” Asmussen deadpanned.

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Donald Adam’s Courtlandt Farms campaigns the two horses, both of whom showed talent at 3. Each were part of a Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool during the winter and spring of 2024, when they resided in a different barn. Asmussen began training the pair last fall at Fair Grounds.

“Slow and steady all the time,” Asmussen said. “They were training really, really well, and I’m proud of the whole team. Ernie Retamoza, who trains at Courtlandt in Florida, he sent them in 100 percent. They got a lot of miles into them.”

Corporate Power zipped 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.18 and earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, three points lower than his 3-year-old best.

“They were nice horses before, and they’re still nice horses,” Asmussen said.

◗ The featured seventh, the penultimate race on Sunday’s card, is a Louisiana-bred turf mile open to second-level allowance horses and $20,000 claimers.

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