NEW ORLEANS – Steve Asmussen’s far-flung stable is loaded with talented 3-year-old fillies this winter, but on a day when the filly Stageplay misfired as the odds-on favorite in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds, it was the 3-year-old colt Gun Runner who hit the target for Asmussen. Getting a great trip under Florent Geroux, Gun Runner beat Forevamo and tough-luck Mo Tom to win the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes, landing a spot in the Kentucky Derby if he can make it there.

Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., and Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, N.Y., plan to offer a pick four on April 9 that will link the tracks’ biggest Kentucky Derby prep races.

The pick four, which was approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Friday, will include the Blue Grass Stakes and Ashland Stakes at Keeneland plus the Wood Memorial and another stakes race at Aqueduct that day. The bet will be hosted by Keeneland, so takeout for the pick four wager will be 19 percent.

Siding Spring, who ran fifth in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest last Monday at Oaklawn Park in his first start since the Breeders’ Cup, will be considered for the Rebel Stakes, said trainer Mark Casse. The Grade 2, $900,000 race will be run March 19.

Siding Spring broke from the No. 11 hole in the Southwest, set the pace, and finished 6 1/4 lengths behind the winner, Suddenbreakingnews. For the effort, Siding Spring earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 83.

I understand why some will try to beat Airoforce in Saturday’s Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. He is unraced since late November, he had his first start at 3 delayed due to a minor respiratory illness, and he is untested on a fast track, having raced three times on turf and once on a sloppy track.

Fair Grounds commands the spotlight Saturday with a card that includes four graded stakes, led by a pair of Grade 2 route races for 3-year-olds – the $400,000 Risen Star and the $200,000 Rachel Alexandra. The only other graded stakes Saturday is the Grade 2, $200,000 Buena Vista at Santa Anita.

Risen Star Stakes

Forevamo was a 3-1 chance in a 10-horse field when he debuted last summer at Saratoga, so it’s fair to say there were hopes for this Uncle Mo colt, purchased at a sale of 2-year-olds in training by the Brittlyn Stables for $320,000. Forevamo finished third that day, was second at 6-5 in a Churchill maiden race, and even in his most recent start could only finish second as the favorite in a first-level allowance race here.

NEW ORLEANS – In 2014, Tom Benson hatched a plan to get back into horse racing after a decades-long break. Benson, a New Orleans native, owns the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans, along with local media outlets, a bunch of real estate, and pretty much anything else he might desire to buy. Benson came up working class and has come out upper crust. Most everything he’s touched has turned to gold, and despite the odds, that’s held true for his latest racing venture.

Mark Casse’s life these days reads like the opening sentence from Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities.” For him, it is the best of times and the worst of times.

A seven-time Sovereign Award-winning trainer in Canada and a finalist again for 2015, Casse has one of the most powerful barns in North America, one that gets stronger every year. Last year, he earned his first Breeders’ Cup wins with Eclipse Award winner Tepin and likely Sovereign champion 2-year-old filly Catch a Glimpse.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mor Spirit, the sharp winner of the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 6, worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds on Wednesday for an expected start in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes here on March 12.

Ridden by Martin Garcia, Mor Spirit worked with stablemate Uninvited, starting two lengths behind. Mor Spirit moved alongside Uninvited on the turn. They raced together through the stretch.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Mor Spirit galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 and could have done more if he had been urged.

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