NEW ORLEANS – As the Fair Grounds assistant to trainer Mike Maker, Joe Sharp went down the Kentucky Derby trail in 2014 with Louisiana Derby winner Vicar’s In Trouble. Later that year, Sharp went out on his own, and now, as a head trainer, Sharp has a Triple Crown prospect in his own stable, Girvin, who was a two-length winner of the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Trainer Graham Motion said he "couldn't be happier" with Irish War Cry’s final work for next Saturday's Fountain of Youth Stakes after his undefeated 3-year-old breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 and galloped out six panels in 1:13.40 on Saturday morning at Palm Meadows.

Saint’s Fan could make his next start in the $1 million Louisiana Derby here on April 1. Or he could make his next start at Keeneland in April. Or be pointed for the $75,000 Crescent City Derby for Louisiana-breds, another April 1 race at Fair Grounds.

The point is that Dallas Stewart, who bred, owns, and trains Saint’s Fan, isn’t in a rush to decide exactly where to run his horse, who worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds here Friday.

True Timber set the pace after stumbling badly at the break in the Grade 3 Withers, a race in which he ultimately finished second to El Areeb.

Judging by the way he breezed Friday at Belmont Park, True Timber will not be part of the pace when he meets El Areeb again in next Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

NEW ORLEANS – Plans for the three horses who as of Friday afternoon were going to scratch from Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes are in various states of certainty.

So Conflated, who didn’t ship to Fair Grounds from Santa Anita for trainer Doug O’Neill, is being rerouted to next Saturday’s Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, O’Neill confirmed via text message.

Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Oaklawn Park, Feb. 20, 2017

 (10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

 Winner: One Liner, by Into Mischief

 Trainer: Todd Pletcher

 Jockey: John Velazquez

 Owner: WinStar Farm LLC, China Horse Club, and SF Racing LLC

 Beyer Speed Figure: 102

NEW ORLEANS – This is Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. Beads hang from trees along the Uptown parade routes. Booze-soused crowds shuffle through the French Quarter. Locals have their costumes ready for Fat Tuesday. And when the dust settles after the Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, a lot more will be known about which horses were merely dressed up as Kentucky Derby hopefuls and which had substance underneath.

Leave it to Neil Howard to do something wacky to mark his 68th birthday on Thursday.

“I’ll be laying low,” Howard said, “doing the usual stuff – pulling manes, cleaning sheets. Anyway, it’s always good to wait until Monday morning to celebrate or not.”

And what a celebration it could be if Howard’s pair of Guest Suite and Eagle come through on Saturday in New Orleans, where the Risen Star for ambitious 3-year-olds tops a stakes-laden program at Fair Grounds.

Epicharis, who won the Hyacinth Stakes last Sunday in Tokyo to move to the top of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby points list, has accepted an invitation to the United Arab Emirates Derby on March 25 at Meydan, the Japan Racing Association said on Thursday.

This is a significant step for Epicharis, for it puts him on the same schedule now as Lani, who won the UAE Derby last year before coming to the United States for the Kentucky Derby, in which he finished ninth. Lani subsequently was third in the Belmont Stakes.

It’s all about Fair Grounds on Saturday as the New Orleans track offers a card that includes six stakes, led by the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star and the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra. Gulfstream has three stakes on its program, topped by the Grade 3, $100,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint.

Risen Star Stakes