Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, one mile and 70 yards, Fair Grounds, Jan. 21, 2017
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Guest Suite, by Quality Road
Trainer: Neil Howard
Jockey: Robby Albarado
Owner: W.S. Farish and Lora Jean Kilroy
Beyer Speed Figure: 82
Reigning leading sire Tapit, who sired his second American classic winner last year, leads all stallions by early nominations to the 2017 Triple Crown series. The nominations were released Tuesday.
The Gainesway resident’s 19 nominees include the graded stakes-placed Capitaine and Ticonderoga; Japanese-bred Foggy Night, who won at Tokyo Racecourse in his first start; and two fillies, Grade 1 winner Pretty City Dancer and Grade 2 winner Unique Bella.
OCALA, Fla. -- Master Plan definitely didn’t run according to plan in the $100,000 males’ division of the OBS Championship Stakes on Tuesday, but his talent allowed him to overcome a speed-favoring track bias and rally for a 2 1/2-length victory under jockey John Velazquez.
Classic Empire won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was named the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male of 2016, and on Tuesday headed a robust list of 418 3-year-olds who were announced as early nominees to this year’s Triple Crown.
There were 368 horses nominated at this stage a year ago, so this year’s total is a significant bump from 2016. There were 429 nominated at the early stage in 2015. The record is 450 in 2007, which followed a huge foal crop of 37,948 in 2004. The 2014 foal crop was estimated at 22,300.
A substantial overhaul from Pool 1 just nine weeks earlier has resulted in 10 new names being among the 23 separately listed wagering interests for Pool 2 of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for a three-day run.
The new names for Pool 2 are American Anthem, Battalion Runner, El Areeb, Faja, Guest Suite, Mont Saint Legame, Petrov, Sonic Mule, State of Honor, and Untrapped.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Rohan Crichton said he is leaning toward running The Money Monster in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 4 following the undefeated colt’s victory last Saturday in the $53,500 Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
NEW ORLEANS – Guest Suite did not appear to maximally extend himself winning the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, and his trainer, Neil Howard, saw nothing to contradict that impression Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Guest Suite had cleaned his feed tub and was acting like his typically energetic self on Sunday. Nearly all horses that race don’t train the following day, and Guest Suite was no exception Sunday, but Howard doesn’t plan to give Guest Suite many more days off.
NEW ORLEANS – In the 2015 Lecomte Stakes, trainer Neil Howard and owner Will Farish ran the promising 3-year-old Eagle as the favorite. Eagle, making his seasonal debut, never got into the race and finished seventh. Two years later, Howard and Farish again had the Lecomte favorite, this time in Guest Suite, a promising 3-year-old making his seasonal debut, and things turned out much better Saturday at Fair Grounds.
I admire perfection whether in horse racing or any other sport. I just don’t want to wager on perfection, knowing that people overbet the likelihood of its continuation.
So, when Running Mate raced in the Sugar Bowl Stakes on Dec. 17 at Fair Grounds after winning his first two starts, I went looking for alternatives to the 2-5 favorite and thankfully settled on the right horse in Proforma.
